Vim Fuego
The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 was a momentous occasion in global history, signalling the beginning of the end of the Soviet dominated Eastern Bloc, the end of the Cold War, and the end of the segregation of Germany, divided since 1945. Roadrunner Records, being the kind, caring record label we all knew and er… loved… decided the opportunity for a cash-in was far too good to miss.
Sporting a cover with depictions of well-known figures from the metal world (Lemmy, King Diamond and Helloween’s pumpkin), and band logos scrawled on the wall, ‘Thrash The Wall’ proudly states “Part of the profits of this compilation will be used to support East-German metal bands!” All well and good you might say, but the wall was down, there was no more East Germany, and in the decades since then, the only East German band to come to prominence is Rammstein, and they ain’t on Roadrunner.
No matter, forget the record company motives, and have a good listen to what’s contained instead.
Right from the get-go, the album title is a bit misleading. King Diamond and Helloween could hardly be called thrash, leaning more to speed and power metal territory, as with Rage, Running Wild and Paradox. Motörhead may well be the godfathers of thrash, but Lemmy’s animosity to the term has always been well known. Gang Green was a decent enough crossover act at the time, but was hardly the epitome of thrash. As for Obituary, the band has never played thrash at all, being one of the leaders of the Florida death metal scene. So that leaves Sodom, Annihilator, Sepultura, Atrophy, Xentrix and Rochus. Six bands out of fourteen, or seven, if you count Gang Green, the title quite inaccurate. However, this could be a great album for introducing a new fan to the thrash world, because it eases the listener in relatively gently. King Diamond’s “Sleepless Nights” and Helloween’s “Future World” are both very melodic, with clean vocals unlikely to scare off traditional metal fans, and the positivity and optimism of “Future World” is highly contagious. Next, Lemmy and co. rumble through “Eat The Rich”, the theme song for the black comedy movie of the same title. It’s vintage Motörhead, with grubby double entendre lyrics, a driving, hard assed blues beat, and delightfully sloppy, almost discordant solos.
Rage’s “Invisible Horizons” keeps up the melodic theme, but also hammers along with double kick drums the whole way. Running Wild’s “Raging Fire” is an inexplicably weak track from such an established band. Ho hum.
Finally, with the sixth track of the album, real thrash appears, with Sodom’s “Remember The Fallen” taken from the incendiary ‘Agent Orange’ album. A mid-paced stomper, this song is a tribute to fallen soldiers, but just as fittingly, could be a poignant tribute to the 138* people who died crossing, guarding or near the Berlin Wall during its 28 year history. Paradox rounds out the block of four German bands with the melodic but forgettable “Search For Perfection”.
And then comes the good stuff! First up is an unreleased live version of Annihilator’s “Human Insecticide” (since released on ‘Bag Of Tricks’), proving Jeff Waters’ insane riffing on the studio original isn’t just studio trickery. If anything, the song is faster live, and sounds utterly insane, which is fitting, considering it is about a psychopath. It is followed by the short, sharp blast of the demo version of Obituary’s “Find The Arise”. The slightly sludgy, lo-fi version of the song is more guttural and organic than the crisp, re-recorded version on the ‘Cause Of Death’ album, with John Tardy’s vomitous vocals sounding intimidating.
It is followed by the remastered version of Sepultura’s “Sarcastic Existence”. Stating the song was remastered is a little superfluous, as this is the version eventually released by Roadrunner. It showcases all that was good about thrash in the late 1980s- it is heavy, intense, and played with conviction.
Atrophy’s “Slippery Through The Crack” (the correct title is “Slipped Through the Cracks”) is the turd in the swimming pool on this album. It is thrash by numbers, with somewhat annoying vocals, and is about failing in the education system.
Xentrix has received something of a cult following in the years since their heyday, and when this was released, the band were real up-and-comers in the UK thrash scene. While often unfairly criticized for blatant Metallica-isms, this track “Balance Of Power” showed everything earned the band that following. It is extremely well executed, with catchy riffs, intelligent lyrics, and is one of the tracks likely to stick in your mind hours after listening to this album.
Rochus was a band formed behind the Iron Curtain in the late 80s, at a time when even hearing metal from the West was almost impossible. English wasn’t widely spoken in East Germany, so “Let’s Thrash” is sung in German. It has all the essentials of a good thrash song- it’s fast, has strong riffs, and a bit of melody. This song showed a hell of a lot potential for this band, but unfortunately, Rochus folded after only a couple of demos and a few live recordings.
“Tear Down The Walls” by Gang Green must have been added to this compilation simply for its title. It doesn’t really fit well with the rest of the album, being somewhat of a filler from the ‘Older…Budweiser’ album. However, it does showcase the skate punk/crossover side of metal, and technically it’s a thrash song.
If you can ignore the slightly misleading title, this is a solid enough compilation, high on melody, low on out-and-out duds, and has a couple of nice rarities. This is in no way a definitive compilation by any stretch of the imagination, but is a good introduction to some lesser known German metal bands, and the cover is pretty cool.
*This is the official death toll. Estimates range from 78 to 245 dead.