It is impossible to give a certain birth date of Thrash Metal but, if one must do so, one can take July 25, 1983, when it was released, as a reference.Kill ‘Em All‘ of the Metallicathe first of the “beat and strike” to be placed on the record market.
Naturally the movement had been roaming around the underground undergrowth for a few years already, as evidenced mainly by the “tape trading” of that period, made up of a myriad of demos and ultra-orthodox live recordings which however gave a good idea of what was boiling in the infernal pot. .
Same Metallica they had started in 1981, for example, as well as the Slayer they Anthrax. The Overkill again the year before and the Exodus well in 1979.
Here…them Exodus …the most evil of those pioneers had very clear ideas about how lethal Thrash Metal should be, as demonstrated by his first exploratory recordings and then his debut album, the very ferocious ‘Bonded By Blood‘ from 1985, an album that, even today, has few equals: scorching speed, violence, anger, oppression and provocation… all taken to the extreme.
‘Bonded By Blood‘It’s an unrepeatable story! As is known, shortly after the Exodus they fired Paul Baloff (RIP) because, let’s say, he was too immersed in the role (following the example of another Paul, moreover, whose surname is Di’Anno), replacing him with Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza, coming from Legacy (the future ones Testament) after which they recorded ‘Pleasures of the Flesh‘ in 1987 and ‘Fabulous Disaster‘ in 1989, two albums with not so much infernal power but still good, detonating and coherent ones, with the only flaw of having been released a little late in a bedlam in full turmoil.
Now the Exodus they decide to dust off those moments, publishing, 35 years after its recording, ‘British Disaster: The Battle of ’89 (Live At The Astoria)‘, available from 31 May 2024 via Nuclear Blast.
This is the concert held on 8 March 1989 atAstoria Theatre in London (now closed and demolished since 2009), the final stage of the European tour for the promotion of ‘Fabulous Disaster‘, The Fabulous Disastercomposed of fifteen dates, including that of February 15, 1989 Rolling Stones of Milan (and here, if any reader present at the time wants to comment, we await with curiosity).
From what we could learn online, no piece played that evening was excluded from playback and if, during the Tour, the Exodus they also playedCajun Hell‘, ‘Bonded By Blood‘ and the cover of ‘Overdose‘ of the AC/DCthese were not included in the exhibition atAstoria.
The setlist contains songs taken from all three albums in a rather uniform way, with the right slight propensity for ‘Faboulus Disaster‘ (six pieces), followed by ‘Bonded By Blood‘ (five pieces), while ‘Pleasures for the Flesh‘ is cited by four pieces.
It’s devastating, there’s no other way to describe it. This live album proves that Exodus they are one of the best Thrash Metal bands ever. Indeed, to be honest, it proves it more when it comes out today than when it was recorded, where it risked both getting lost among the tons of valid releases of the time and ending up forgotten by the arrival of the ’90s, the cursed period of Thrash Metal.
Not that today there aren’t good bands or that good albums don’t come out, on the contrary… but the atmosphere that comes out of the grooves of ‘British Disaster: The Battle of ’89 (Live At The Astoria)‘is unique, testimony to a past time that cannot be recreated today.
It’s all pure energy, transmitted by a band in great shape who were a real war machine (and who don’t joke even today). Thrash 100%: enraged, subversive, overbearing and dark, it takes the soul and dismantles it.
It is useless to describe song by song, they are proposed as they are known, naturally even more aggressive than in the studio, because Thrash is something extremely alive and harnessing it in a recording room is always a bit reductive. Sharp and scorching tracks, without a minimum of pause, with killer riffs, driving solos, earth-shaking rhythm section and vitriolic, but at the same time charismatic rough voice, with excerpts from ‘Bonded By Blood‘ which intersect perfectly with those of the following two albums.
‘Fabulous Disaster‘, ‘The Toxic Waltz‘, ‘A Lesson in Violence‘, ‘Piranha‘, ‘Brain Dead‘… just to name a few, it’s a continuous succession of merciless hammerings, a tracklist that is a battery of missiles launched at zero point one after the other.
Reels that risked being lost… thank goodness, however, that Gary Holt and co decided to dust them off.
The album was mixed and mastered by Chris “Zeuss” Harris, while the artwork was created by Mark DeVito, and is available in CD, double LP and digital formats.
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