ANOTHER 5 Cult German Thrash Albums Turning 35 Years Old In 2024!

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2024 sees these vicious little Teutonic thrashin’ bastards turning an incredible 35 years old…..

Accuser – Who Dominates Who (1989)

Approaching their brand of thrash metal with an eye for experimentation and a flurry of time-changes, Accuser‘s Who Dominates Who may have arrived at the tail end of the 80’s but it still had something new to say.

Each track on Who Dominates Who slams hard with colossal choruses, hardcore shouts and a grinding sound that relentlessly pummels its way into your brain. It’s pretty safe to say that Metallica’s stop-start chug and elaborate song-structures were Accuser’s main inspiration and that’s no surprise considering the year it was recorded.

On an album spilling over with epic thrash tracks it’s “Symbol Of Hate” and the title-track that pack the biggest one-two punch; each song meandering through endlessly inventive machine-gun riffs and full-force battery. Accuser may never have been spoken of in the same breath as the genre’s greats but Who Dominates Who is the one album in their back catalogue that rises high above the status of also-rans.

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Grinder – Dead End (1989) 

Beginning with “Agent Orange” (not a cover of Sodom’s classic but a ‘classic’ of their own making), Grinder‘s stomping, militarised, rotor-riffs flow flawlessly into the kind of quality melodic thrash that should have adhered these German thrashers to millions.

Channeling the highly melodic noise of Flotsam and Jetsam and Anthrax, Grinder still managed to create something a little different in the thrash world; no easy task by the time the late 80’s rolled around. Playing with structure and speed, Grinder’s skill lay in fluid bass lines and taking the turn least expected. The result? An album that remains unpredictable and surprisingly unique.

In particular, Dead End‘s title track is a thrash monster, a totally unique speed/thrash workout which traverses more moods and more terrain than most thrash albums manage in their entirety!

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Holy Moses – The New Machine Of Liechtenstein (1989)

Taming much of the bite that made 1987’s Finished With The Dogs so rabid, Holy Moses emerged in 1989 as a notably more clinical beast; still savage, still capable of ripping your head clean off your shoulders, but now laced with the kind of precision-tooled, crisp riffing that led to justifiable Megadeth comparisons!

That being said, Sabine Classen’s vocals were as predatory as ever and, while the music around her was graced with more nuance and compositional skill than ever before, it remains a joy to hear her hostile holler ring true above the insanely tight rhythmic interplay of Andy Classen’s sublime riffs and Uli Kusch’s always impressive performance behind the kit.

While there’s nothing to be found on The New Machine Of Liechtenstein that hits quite as hard as Holy Moses classic “Current Of Death”, it’s the progressive/technical playfulness of album highlights “Panic” (replete with funk bass!) and the rapid-fire rifferama of the catchy as fuck “SSP (Secret Service Project)” that lends credo to this arguably being Holy Moses‘ most ‘complete’ album.

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Living Death – Worlds Neuroses (1989)

Admittedly, to say that Living Death‘s 4th album was in the same league as 1985’s Metal Revolution or 1987’s high-water mark Protected From Reality would be a bold-faced lie BUT there’s still much to love about Worlds Neuroses and its ‘wacky’ charms and lyrical jiggery-pokery.

With frontman Thorsten Bergmann perhaps ill-advisedly ditching the wails and screams that gave prior albums their ferocious edge, it does take a while to settle into his more ‘softened’ approach found here. Fortunately, some killer gang vocals and intense riffage back up the more melodic leads found on the likes of “Die Young”, while the lightning fast and surprisingly savage “Schizophrenia” restores some much-needed balance and serves as a reminder of former glories. It’s worth noting that the swaggering doom-thrash of “On the 17th Floor” leans into a groove aesthetic that, as we know, would go on to define the 90s – hindsight would suggest that these boys already had an inkling of changes to come!

The very definition of a ‘cult’ album from a ‘cult’ band, Worlds Neuroses may be an acquired taste but we maintain that much of this often ignored album is tasty as fuck!

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Mekong Delta – The Principle Of Doubt (1989)

Mekong Delta often operated on another level entirely and this, their 3rd full length album, was certainly no exception! The chug of Anthrax-esque riffs may have provided the core of their sound but Mekong Delta stood out from the pack via their otherworldly solos, frantic percussion and abstract background noise; resulting in a sonic maelstrom often inconceivable in its complexity.

To sound like you’re playing a different song to your bandmates and still fashion these sounds into something resembling a recognisable song structure is a feat in itself…..and yet, Mekong Delta managed it time and time again.

Just give the title track a spin and try telling us your head isn’t left spinning from the sheer madness of it all!

Also in this Series: 5 Cult German Thrash Albums Turning 35 Years Old In 2024!