VIKING — Do or Die (review)

VIKING — Do or Die album cover Album · 1988 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Do or Die" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Los Angeles based thrash metal act Viking. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in February 1988. Viking was a relatively shortlived act who only released two albums in the late eighties before they disbanded.

The band play what I would call "classic" US thrash metal of the raw kind. This is not Bay Area styled thrash metal (which are typically more technical and sophisticated in nature), but rather a US thrash metal style that has more in common with European thrash metal and that sounds more like it was released in 1984 than in 1988. It´s raw, aggressive, intense and pretty much to the point. The tracks are relatively catchy and I found myself screaming along to some of the choruses with a leather clad fist in the air and my head banging wildy. Song titles like "Warlord", "Militia of Death" and "Killer Unleashed" are so charmingly old school that I´m about to burst into nostalgia tears.

The playing is raw and the sound production unpolished and murky, but it´s not something that disturb the listening experience. On the contrary this is actually exactly the right sound for the music on "Do or Die". A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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