UMUR
"Strappado" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian thrash metal act Slaughter. The album was released through Diabolic Force (on vinyl)/Fringe Product (on casette tape) in 1987. The material featured on "Strappado" was already recorded and mixed in February 1986, but it took a year for the album to get a release. "Strappado" is a bit of an underground "classic" in the more raw end of the thrash metal spectrum, but Slaughter have also received some retrospective attention as Chuck Schuldiner (Death, Control Denied) was shortly a member of the band. Schuldiner was not part of the lineup who recorded "Strappado" though. The trio lineup who recorded the album consists of: Dave Hewson (vocals, guitar), Terry Sadler (vocals, bass), and Ron Summers (drums).
"Strappado" is a raw, aggressive, and heavy hardcore tinged thrash metal release featuring angry shouting vocals. It´s pretty simple and primitive music and won´t appeal to those who crave a bit of technical playing in their music. This is straight forward and the tracks typically only feature two riffs which are repeated ad nauseam. I´d say Hellhammer and to a lesser extent early Venom (and there´s definitely an occasional Motörhead influence in there too) are Slaughter´s closest relatives and also influences (they´ve covered both on their early demos).
"Strappado" is a short album featuring only nine tracks and a total playing time of 23:34. At least two of their preceding demos featured longer playing times, but considering the primitive, repetitive, and simple nature of Slaughter´s music, a short playing time is probably wise to not wear the listener down. Upon conclusion "Strappado" is a decent quality debut album from Slaughter. Other than the brutal buzzing guitar tone I´m not sure why people refer to this album as proto-death metal because I hear little here which points in that direction, but to each his own. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.