5 Often Misunderstood UK Thrash Albums That Deserve A Second Chance

Go on...give 'em a second chance...you know you want to!

Posted on April 9, 2024 by Chris Jennings in Features

Universally ignored and derided, we firmly believe these 5 UK thrash albums deserve a second chance….

Amnesia – Unknown Entity (1991)

You may have no recollection of them (ha!), but Amnesia had a brief brush with fame back in 1991, when they signed with a subsidiary of Peaceville Records and swiftly recorded their debut album, Unknown Entity.

Ironically apt given its title, this relatively unknown entity was actually a damn fine band, leaning a little too heavily on the riffs of Testament perhaps – “the intro to “The Final Revelation” is ripped straight from The New Order’s “Eerie Inhabitants” – but still capable of thrashing up a storm when required!

Admittedly, Amnesia were in dire need of a singer who could rival the legendary Chuck Billy. While passable enough, the vocals of Simon Rose lacked that killer edge but these guys were still good enough to warrant far more attention than they received and deserved to be pulled from the obscurity quagmire.

Related content: 6 Under-Appreciated Classics Of UK Thrash (Pt.3)

Re-Animator – Laughing (1991)

A confused album (and at times somewhat messy what with its penchant for throwing everything into the mix), it’s pretty clear that with their 2nd album Re-Animator were simply having a bit of fun with this crazy ol’ thing called thrash…. and they shouldn’t have been ridiculed for doing so!

Admittedly, Re-Animator‘s abrupt shift from Condemend To Eternity‘s Metallica-Isms to the jovial and experimental nature of Laughing was a considerable ‘rug pull’ but there’s easily enough goodies here to warrant giving it a second chance. Sure, the oddly-monikered “Kipper ‘N'” was categorically not thrash but when “Another Fine Mess” kicked in – with its bounce and bravado placed front and centre – it’s enough to have you instantaneously head-banging along and grinning from ear-to-ear from its sheer force of will alone. We’ll admit, the less said about Re-Animator‘s utterly superfluous cover of Dead Kennedy‘s “Too Drunk to Fuck” the better….but the crunch and pace of “Don’t Patronise Me” soon rights any wrongs and places us firmly back in thrash territory.

Whether you determine Laughing to be misunderstood or simply misguided, Re-Animator‘s second album is not the disaster many have labelled it to be; confounding perhaps….but certainly not an abject failure!

Sabbat – Mourning Has Broken (1991)

Sabbat‘s Mourning Has Broken may be hard-going at times, and it may have been considered a critical and commercial failure – and virtually unrecognisable from the two world class thrash albums that preceded it (History Of A Time To Come & Dreamweaver) – but there is something about Mourning Has Broken’s labyrinthian compositions and off-kilter melodies that draws us in each and every time we’re brave enough to give it another shot.

Complex and challenging (too challenging if its lukewarm reception was anything to go by), Mourning Has Broken may sound like the work of a different band entirely – it didn’t help that Richie Desmond’s dry, often-mournful, traditional doom metal-esque vocal style was the complete opposite of Martin Walkyier’s influential, rapid-fire shriek – but this technically outstanding piece of work should be revered as an intriguing experiment….and not just a forgotten footnote in the career of the UK’s finest ever thrashers!

Related content: Is It Time To Cut Sabbat’s Mourning Has Broken Some Slack? (featuring a more in-depth review).

Slammer – Nightmare Scenario (1991)

Following up their outstanding debut, The Work Of Idle Hands (1989), was never going to be an easy task and while Nightmare Scenario failed to fully live up to its illustrious predecessor, Slammer‘s sophomore effort was nowhere near the disappointment it’s often painted out to be.

Scattershot it may be but Nightmare Scenario still contains some fine compositions – not least in the formidable and experimental form of opener “What’s Your Pleasure?” and album highlight “In The Name of God”, which took the clinical yet crunchy approach adopted by the likes Metallica and Testament at the tail end of the 80s.

Brimming with talent but lacking the focus needed to turn good songs into great ones, Nightmare Scenario remains a cult curio but one with just enough style and substance to warrant a revisit!

Xentrix – Kin (1992)

This should have been the big one for the UK’s brightest thrash hopes.

Kin should have been Xentrix‘s Black Album, their Countdown To Extinction, their Act III, their Ritual.….their genre-defining, mainstream-baiting, sure-fire hit release. It wasn’t. But it should have been!

“No More Time” may have been a little too maudlin for its own good (although you couldn’t argue with the sentiment) but there was still plenty of crunch and mature thrashing to be found on the likes of “A Friend To You” and the chugging nirvana of “Release”.

Everything abut Kin was grander, more opulent and designed for mass consumption but you cannot – should not! – ridicule Xentrix for wanting a million selling record under their belt….and in a parallel universe, Kin was that album.