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

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Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 of our under-appreciated classics of UK thrash already highlighted the likes of Pariah, Seventh Angel, Virus, Deathwish and 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, Canada and the States and Worship Metal has 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!

Concrete Sox – Whoops Sorry Vicar! (1987)

Crossover kings Concrete Sox may not be the first name that pops into your head when you think of UK thrash but there was enough thrash to their hardcore punk sound to warrant inclusion here!

With an overall attitude reeking of sneering hardcore punk, it’s left to the music to lean towards ‘the thrash’ and the raw 1 minute 17 seconds explosion of “Scientific Slaughter” remains a crossover classic. 

There’s obviously humour aplenty (you don’t title your album Whoops Sorry Vicar! if you aren’t prone to jesting), and the genius of “Moustache (Acting Like a Maniac)” – which ably rips the piss out of Metallica‘s “Whiplash” – retains its value! 

As far as crossover thrash goes, you can safely file Concrete Sox alongside UK hardcore/crust punk/crossover thrash royalty such as Sacrilege, Onslaught, Cerebral Fix and Deviated Instinct. 

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D.A.M – Human Wreckage (1989)

A relatively archetypical thrash album from the late 80’s, D.A.M‘s debut album, Human Wreckage, may have been lacking that killer edge to propel it into the big leagues but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t home to some bitchin’, occasionally hardcore-inflected, thrash! 

Taking a darker, edgier approach meant that D.A.M‘s excursions into semi-ballad territory – particularly on the atmospheric “Infernal Torment” – paid dividends for a band who were just as capable at high-speed riff-fests (check out the S.O.D-esque album closer, “F.O.D”). 

An album that belies its also-ran status, Human Wreckage managed to blend crossover thrash with a progressive mindset and while the results can occasionally be jarring, they’re never anything less than entertaining!

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Sacrilege – Behind The Realms Of Madness (1985)

A furious cacophony of pure thrashing noise, Sacrilege‘s seminal debut was a crust punk, D-beat, thrash combo designed to floor apathetic listeners who thought they knew the meaning of ‘heavy’. 

Ably blurring the lines between more traditional hardcore punk and the darker side of thrash metal, Sacrilege‘s blitzkrieg riffing and Lynda ‘Tam’ Simpson’s feral shouts marked them out as true progenitors of crust. With an antagonistic vigour unrivalled by any other band in the scene, Sacrilege were heavy in every sense of the word with their perfectly rendered noise counterbalanced by political nous. 

Behind The Realms Of Madness was/is the kind of album that transcends borders and acts as a defining moment in the 80’s cross-pollination of both punk and metal……its influence cannot be underestimated!