LAZARUS A.D.

This one hits so hard it hurts. There is happy thrash and there is mean thrash. Guess how I'd categorize "The Onslaught" by Wisconsin's LAZARUS A.D.? Right, it's meaner than a hungry pit bull with rabies. The album was floating around for an extended period as an independent release before Brian Slagel snatched it up and had James Murphy remix/remaster it and in the process up the fervency. These Northern boys are proof that the vintage thrash tank isn't empty yet.

It is not as though "The Onslaught" ups the ante in this now overcrowded thrash resurgence. They're just one of the upper-tier acts that do what they do very well. No major new twists, no expansionist tendencies, just balls to the wall, pedal to the metal, (insert your cliché description here),thrash metal with a modern production that unsurprisingly owes a debt to the likes of TESTAMENT, METALLICA ("Kill 'Em All" to a limited extent),and especially EXODUS. However, I hear as much modern-day EXODUS as I do the oft-imitated "Bonded by Blood" EXODUS, although some of that has to do with the lead vocal intonation and patterning of bassist Jeff Paulick, which are reminiscent of Rob Dukes. Furthermore, the manner in which LAZARUS A.D. takes its influences and puts its own spin on them, thereby avoiding the regurgitation trap, is analogous to RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER. The drumming of Ryan Shutler is more percussive and harsher than the average old-school-influenced thrash band too (again, the modern-day EXODUS thing).

The bottom line though is that each of these 10 tracks is snarling, nasty, and ear piercing — the hallmarks of a violently satisfying thrash album. The attack doesn't vary a great deal, yet it doesn't sound redundant either, at least for thrash metal. "The Onslaught" is full of ball-busters, beginning with highlight "Last Breath" and ending with "Who I Really Am", which happens to be one of the only tracks with a decidedly METALLICA bent (some of the riffing and the vocal patterns). In between, you'll find no filler; just songs like the excellent, tempo-varied "Damnation for the Weak" — one of a few with gang vocals — and "Revolution", which includes some deeper lead vocal parts from lead guitarist Dan Gapen that contrast superlatively with Pualick's rapid fire mid-range. Gapen contributes vocals to "Rebirth" as well.

The opportunities to engage in pit violence — in your living room or in front of the stage — are many on "The Onslaught". If songs such as "Forged in Blood" and "Every Word Unheard" (with the obligatory dive bombs) don't get the head banging, then you probably don't like thrash metal to begin with. In two words, "damn good."