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

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Ignorance – The Confident Rat (1992)

Thrash met funk as Ignorance channeled the work of Mordred and Suicidal Tendencies (and a little Faith No More for good measure) to gift us Brits our own convincing take on this disparate hybrid.

And highly convincing The Confident Rat was too as Ignorance went about adding humour, slap-bass and all manner of bounce to their thrash metal framework. While many decried Ignorance‘s turn towards the funk side, you can’t blame them for wanting their own slice of the thrash/funk pie.

At the very least The Confident Rat booked them a supporting slot with Mordred back in the day, which at least acknowledges the direction they wanted to head in.

Pure funk-thrash nirvana….from Corby!

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Sabbat – Mourning Has Broken (1991)

Ok. We’re going out on a limb with this one but we maintain that the album Andy Sneap himself has long since shunned actually has a lot to offer!

Sabbat‘s Mourning Has Broken may be hard-going at times, it may have been a critical and commercial failure – and virtually unrecognisable from the two world class albums that preceded it (History Of A Time To Come & Dreamweaver for those not in the know) – but there is something about its labyrinthian compositions and off-kilter melodies that draws us in each and every time.

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 probably didn’t help that Richie Desmond’s mournful, 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!

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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 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.

Liked that? Try this: Shattered Existence (1989) and For Whose Advantage? (1990) are the go to Xentrix albums….some of the finest thrash the UK ever had to offer!

Also in this series: 

6 Under-Appreciated Classics Of UK Thrash (Pt.1)

6 Under-Appreciated Classics Of UK Thrash (Pt.2)

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

6 Under-Appreciated Classics Of UK Thrash (Pt.5)