6 Under-Appreciated Classics Of UK Thrash (Pt.4)

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Parts 1, 2 & 3 of our under-appreciated classics of UK thrash already highlighted the likes of Pariah, Seventh Angel, D.A.M, Deathwish & Detritus among others but there’s plenty more quality thrash from good ol’ Blighty still knocking around, collecting dust at the bottom of the thrash pile….which is tantamount to sacrilege!

In actuality, the UK thrashed just as hard as Germany, Brazil and the States and so we’ve selected another 6 unsung classics of UK thrash that deserve to be re-evaluated, re-assessed and re-played at eardrum bursting volume!

Thrash it up, UK style!

Anihilated – The Ultimate Desecration (1989)

Anihilated‘s second album is a British thrash milestone, incorporating Exodus’ brash brutality and Slayer’s knack for intimidating menace and groove to form an album worthy of serious attention.

The grisly grooves of instrumental “Desolation” set the scene as Anihilated’s malevolent, sickle-sharp riffing crunches straight into high gear on “Into The Flames Of Armageddon”. The album never lets up from here on in; quality track follows quality track with raspy, sandpaper vocals, wall-of-sound drums and Hell Awaits era Slayer riffs combining furiously to thrash your face clean off.

The Slayer comparisons can be a little too familiar at times but if you’re gonna be inspired, be inspired by one of the best and if being the British Slayer is a bad thing, then we’ll be damned!

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Dearly Beheaded – Temptation (1996)

A hulking, crushing slab of mid-90s thrash /groove akin to Machine Head, Skinlab and Overkill (during their most obvious groove era), Dearly Beheaded‘s debut album, Temptation, should have seen these UK bruisers rise above the ranks of mere also rans.

Home to some colossal riffing and a penchant for wringing necks with brute, mid-tempo force, Temptation was a case of right album at the right time with the right producer at the helm (Colin Richardson)…but ‘fame’ was to be short lived. One more album followed, 1997’s Chamber Of One, and then the band imploded; full potential never quite fulfilled.

Some may balk at Dearly Beheaded being described as thrash but if they were ‘thrash’ enough to be included in Ian Glasper’s almighty tome, Contract In Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal….then they’re ‘thrash’ enough for us!

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Hydra Vein – After The Dream (1989)

This swift follow-up to Hydra Vein‘s debut album, Rather Death Than False Of Faith (1988), may have been a little rushed – with only 6 songs making up its brief 30 min runtime – but that doesn’t detract from the quality on display throughout this often overlooked gem.

By upping both the aggression and the technicality some of the naive feral charm of Hydra Vein‘s debut may have been lost but that’s not to say that After The Dream was without it’s own Slayer-esque appeal. Warbled intro shriek on opening track “7-U-S-C” aside, the tracks found here are uniformly engaging and thrashed up to fuck, resulting in a sophomore album that should have pushed Hydra Vein to the very top of the UK thrash pile.

Not quite in the same league as Rather Death Than False of Faith but undoubtedly one of the better UK thrash metal albums released at the tail end of the 1980’s!