Copyright (c) 2007-2024 THE THRASH METAL GUIDE 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z J.B.O. (GERMANY)
Groovy post-thrash meets crossover, plus a lot of funky and alternative moments added. This is a jokey take on the style, and can only be loosely labelled as thrash, mixing a truckful of influences into pretty short (1-2min) tracks without too many musical merits.
Killeralbum Full-Length, 2011 J.I.P. (CZECH)
Based on the "New Pigs on the Rocks" demo, this act produce some of the most brutal sounds to come out of Europe during the early-90's. This is ultra-aggressive grindy thrash/death which is pretty much violent, albeit remotely sensible, bash without many musical merits, served with a messy sound and short, badly constructed, pieces. The vocalist merges with the musical chaos his semi-declamatory antics barely audible at times. Not for the faint of heart...
Intensive Care Unit Demo, 1990 J.T.RIPPER (GERMANY)
This is pure Germanic old school speed/thrash quite reminiscent of early Iron Angel and the Portuguese Alastor, also bringing to mind Rigor Mortis on the more aggressive sections ("Seven Comandments"). There's certain dissipated death/black metal-ish atmosphere present as well, probably coming from the harsh throaty vocals. The band play on with the utmost speed possible seldom trying something more complex (the curious quasi-progressiver "Darkest Minds"; the excellent serpentine closer "Buried Alive"); but there's no need for such "distractions" since the no-bars-held delivery suits them just fine providing plenty of furious headbanging moments.
Depraved Echoes and Terrifying Horrors Full-Length, 2015
Facebook JACKDEVIL (BRAZIL)
Based on the full-length debut, this band specialize in classic speed/thrash crossing "Kill'Em All" with a more fulfilled speed metal assault ala Attacker and Liege Lord. The cross works since the guys seldom let the speed drop although "Thrash Demons Attack" is more of a tribute to the German speed metal school than a full-fledged thrash piece. More variety comes with the pounding "Killing Razors" before "Insane Speed Metal" "speeds insanely" recalling the Canadian heroes Exciter who are also the main topic on the closing "Under The Metal Command". The singer isn't bad with his attached shouty semi-clean tember which he doesn't risk, but
keeps levelled throughout.
Faster Than Evil EP, 2013 Official Site JACKHAMMER (BRAZIL)
A capable new act playing energetic old school speed/thrash ala Blessed Death and early Whiplash; the vocals are bery high to the point of screaming, again pretty much in the vein of the two aforementioned acts, and the guitars have this playful crossover edge at times. The music will be by allmeans entertaining to the majority of the fans being fast: check out the speed metal worship "Speed Metal Crusher" which adds great classical leads ala Kai Hansen. The delivery is seldom "broken" by more direct hardcore-laced tracks ("Fight or Die Now"), but after that one the sound gets a bit more serious, with longer compositions, although the approach doesn't change drastically being speedy all the way, except for the heavy pounding "Red Light Murder", which also speed/thrashes intensely at the end. The closing "Death Factory" is an entertaining 7.5-min opus which offers merry speed metal in the 90's fashion "graced" by brutal grinding outbreaks in the beginning and the end.
Hard to be alive Full-length, 2009 Official Site JACKNIFE(USA)
Swedish thrash/death metal made in the USA; the music has the typical for the style melodic guitar work, but at times
introduces some heavy, groovy moments, too. "End Man" is a less-than-2-min wonder of some brilliant technical
thrash. The rest is less striking sticking to the well established trends.
Moment of Reckoning full-length, 2006 Official Site JACKSTRAW (ITALY)
A 3-songer with a girl on both bass and behind the mike; she is helped by a brutal death metal growler at times, but the latter should really be left aside for the future: the catchy crossover tone of the music by no means suits him. This is playful soft power/post-thrashy stuff with a dance potential finished with the good soulful ballad "Tutto Crolla".
False Smile Demo, 2012 Official Site JACOBS MOOR (AUSTRIA)
The debut: this Austrian outfit indulge in modern power/thrash served on a semi-technical, also epic, base. The guitar work is mostly mid-tempo and crunchy exceptions to the rule inevitably springing up: the hard-hitting speedster "The Truth", the classic reminder "New Tomorrow" which also provides a nice sing-along chorus. The longer cuts ("Last Remaining Light") border on the progressive including the final "Final Sound" which is 8-min of some inspired more complicated thrashing with a cool laid-back interlude. The vocalist is a cool addition with his warm emotional clean tember. Some of the musicians also have another band, the progressive metal formation Glass Moon.
All That Starts Full-Length, 2014 Official Site JAGANNATH (HOLLAND)
The style on the first demo is heavy, roughly produced thrash with some very fast moments, reminding of the Americans Hallows Eve. When the guys don't aim at the very fast, chaotic play, they actually produce some cool stomping tracks: "Into The City's Madness", but the more aggressive moments are not to be ignored, either: the smashing little thrasher "Flight Of The Goblin", and the stylish fusion of intense thrashing and some epic metal "Jagannath".
Demo I Demo, 1988 JAGUAR (COLOMBIA)
Based on "Lord & Master", this is the brainchild of just one musician, the name Eddy Soto (also the thrash/black hybriders Desecrator of Evil and the black metal monsters Manifestacion Diabolica), the style being a vicious blend of thrash and black, with Soto bashing with little remorse throughout, the more melodic sentiments on the ttle-track revealing a more proficient side of the man, one that doesn't shine a lot here as his focus is on aggressive uncompromising rhythms even on a few longer, more meticulously-constructed ("Kundinamarkien", "Sacrifice Ritual") compositions. The sound quality is a bit muddy, and the drum machine used is too loud, deafening the other instruments on quite a few moments.
Seguidores de Lucifer EP, 2015 Official Site JAILOR (BRAZIL)
Even on a saturated scene like the Brazilian one, these guys will easily stick out, simply because this is one of the better debuts to come out of there in years. Technical thrash of the heavier type with fast, Slayer-esque parts is what's on offer here. The guitar work is particularly good, and will also remind you of Death, ably supported by a great heavy bass-bottom. The music at times gets quite fast and aggressive, acquiring slight shade of death metal ("Timeline of Massacre", the second part of "Jailor"), and this is where the guys put more effort, coming with a really impressive performance, mainly by the guitarists again; their swirling technical hooks will keep you on the alert the whole time. The headbangers will not be disappointed, either: more direct, shorter Slayer-esque numbers are also here: "Corpus Christ", but again with a certain technical edge. Technical masterpieces like "Deaf Lords" and "Necropolis" would be hard to match even by the most experienced practitioners of the genre; both songs are true gems, the highlights of the album. The vocals are the only flaw, being quite shouty with an unpleasant hardcore edge; they sound appropriate, though, when the guy tries to scream ala Tom Araya (remember "Angel of Death").
Evil Corrupts full-length, 2005 Official Site JAMES MURPHY (USA)
This legendary guitar wizard has graced with his presence many celebrated acts from the metal scene (Agent Steel, Obituary, Testament, Death, Cancer, etc.). In-between his busy schedule he has found some time to release two albums under his name in the 90's. Music-wise this is progressive/technical thrash with a modern
flavour (but no grooves). The style is not flamboyant ala Yngwie Malmsteen, nor is it very aggressive in the vein of Toby Knapp, but makes for an interesting listen mixing both eclectic, offbeat, more progressively-laced sections with some impressive hard-hitting straight ones. On the songs (not all pieces are instrumentals) you can hear Chuck Billy, Devin Townsend, John West; Steve Digiorgio on bass, too. Murphy is still fighting brain cancer which befell him 5 years ago, and our hopes (and prayers) are that this metal hero will recover completely very soon to carry on with his contribution to the metal field.
Convergence Full-LenGTH, 1996 Official Site JARABE DE PLOMO (SPAIN)
Thrashcore done with a crusty attitude; it's dynamic, one-dimensional and party-like. The singer is a rough drunken semi-reciter who adds up to the uplifting mood. One would be surprised to find out that exactly the same musicians are behind the much more serious progressive death metal project Undefined.
Jarabe de Plomo Full-Length, 2011 Official Site JARAKILLERS (BRAZIL)
The debut: a young Brazilian outfit who indulge in abrasive modern thrash/post-thrash with frequent classic leanings. The fuzzy edge of the guitars may annoy to an extent, but the dynamics is admirable the latter nicely boosted by the more death metal-oriented semi-technicaller "Julius Cezar". Elsewhere we have the evil stomper "Evil Prayer", the speed/thrashing roller-coaster "The Mushroom Cloud of Death, the pessimistic doomster "Dorothy Stang", and the short deathy closer "Terror Green Hell". The vocalist is a scary death metal shouter often stifled by the noisy guitar sound.
Macabres Tales of Dark River Full-Length, 2016 Official Site JARHEAD (CANADA)
Based on "Beautiful Delusion", these guys offer cleverly-concocted modern post-thrash which tries to run away from the modern cliches with a string of more technical tracks, but the style remains within the predictable parametres the band jamming in a more carefree manner more often than the technical side of music would allow. There are several catchy melodic hooks to be caught as well (check out the closer "Anti-Prostrate", among other "niceties") those contrasting with the gruff death metal-ish vocals.
Image of Insanity Full-length, 2009 Official Site JAW (GERMANY)
This is power/proto-thrash which both on the classic and modern side, the overall approach not too far removed from early Metal Church, especially the more belligerent material ("911 (The Calling)"), the friendlier aura of cuts like "Badass American" tipping the scales towards the heavy metal arena. "Shark Attack!" is a commendable speedy excursion, and the closer "Ten Foot Pole" attempts a fuller thrashier escapade as a finishing touch. The singer is a cross between David Wayne (R.I.P.) and UDO, his boisterous antics definitely on the positive side.
Hot Lava Sunshine! Full-Length, 2020 Facebook JAWBONE (GERMANY)
Merry uplifting modern, but fairly derivative, post-thrash topped by brutal shouty death metal vocals; "Stepphuhn" is a really cool heavy ballad, and "Yellow Sirens" is a more hard-hitting shredder, but "Floating Impact" on the other hand is just a clumsy 7.5-min doomster, not to mention the stupid closing 6-min of ambient non-sense... Skippable by any standards.
Blow Me Blind Full-Length, 2016 Official Site JAWW (CANADA)
Based on the full-length: look no further than the typical for the time groovy post-thrash, here brought with a strong doze of industrial. Expect very heavy guitars without a big variety in-between, mid to doom tempos, a few hardcore outbursts, and angry brutal semi-death vocals. Some of the band members have earlier tried their hands on some thrash/death metal under the name Catharsis.
Southbound Full-length, 1997 JECHANE (POLAND)
This Polish trio play modern thrash which clings more towards the melodic side regardless of the brutal shouty, death metal vocals "roaming" within. The band settle for the mid-pace from the get-go, and seldom break the morose atmosphere instilled. "Metro" is a nice instrumental showing a more ambitious aspect of the band's musicianship, but generally this is a not very engaging listen.
War in Your Head Full-Length, 2016 Official Site JEFF HANNEMAN PROJECT (USA)
The name should tell you a lot: this is a side project for the Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, but here he does just a decent job; this is energetic, but not very aggressive thrash which doesn't sound exactly like Slayer, and is full of touches like slow atmospheric, even semi-balladic sections, which are not quite necessary and ruin the sharp guitar sound. The bass is almost non-existent making me wonder whether it wasn't only Hanneman and a session drummer having recorded this.
Demo Demo, 1986 JEKYLL (USA)
This is wild unbridled thrash/proto-death of the old school; hectic semi-technical music which is at times pure chaotic semi-grind/hardcore ("Roadkill"), at others is a nod at the Hellwitch heritage (the stylish bash "Sexual Mutilation"), at others is a more tamed mid-tempo carnival ("Dr. Jekyll"). "Tunnel of Blood" is a tight compact headbanger, but "Severed Head" is a squashing volcanizer, its seismic impact augmented by the urgent gallopisms on the confrontational "Blinded Poverty". The vicious spatout vocals do a good job in retaining the drama, the latter also helped by the very clear sound quality.
"Happy Metal Thunder" is another joke which this time pulls out all the headbanging stops on vigorous pieces, like "Long Live
Metallica", which music-wise is hardly a tribute to the Americans being a happy speed/thrashy merry-go-round with the vocals trying
to imitate James Hetfield at times, and doing a good job; watch out for the great balladic break in the middle which is a stylish
nod to both "Orion" and "Sanitarium". Later on one will encounter an optimistic crossover take on Pink Floyd's "Another Brick In
The Wall", only faithful to the Brits' hit in the middle, the rest much faster with a carefree, punky attitude. Make sure not to
miss the excellent cover of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades", by far the most indigenous attempt at this hit, done entirely balladic with acoustic guitars and vocals which may have been provided by Lemmy himself: one can hardly imagine a better impersonation of the British rock legend. "Raining Blood" has no relations to Slayer, but is a hilarious version of Gary Halliwell's (former Spice Girls) "Raining Men"; one can't help but start laughing at the funny lyrics at some point. The only more faithful rendition is the one of The Rolling Stones' "Angie" at the end, at least music-wise, since the singer slubbers in a silly, drunken way, apparently making fun of Mick Jagger. The rest is a varied mix of groovy, industrial pieces and pure heavy metal happinesses (see, there are a lot of "happy" moments here!), but still, the entertainig value of this effort is fairly big.
Happy Metal Thunder Full-Length, 2011
To Be or Not to Be Demo, 1990
New Pigs on the Rocks Demo, 1991
This Is Not a Trick-This Is a Shark! This Is Not a Joke-This Is J.I.P! Demo, 1992
“Evil Strikes Again” is another retro speed/thrashing winner the band shooting a “bullet” after “bullet” in a quick succession the music more on the melodic side (“Satan's Rite”) “Nightcrawler” being the carefree laid-back deviation sustained in a rockish manner with a great bass bottom. “Death by Red Lights” near the end unleashes more hard-hitting thrash as opposed to the dominant speed metal flavour the latter again recalling Exciter above all.
Unholy Sacrifice Full-length, 2014
Evil Strikes Again Full-Length, 2015
"Self" still clings more towards the modern chuggy canons with a warmer sound although the complexity has been retained all over with heavy elaborate pieces like "Watching Atrocities" and the officiant epic-prone "The Absence of Me". A couple of brutal blast-beating escapades ("Falling to Pieces") sound misplaced on the relatively peaceful background alrthough more vigorous thrashing "bombs" like "Distance" and "Hate of a New Kind" by all means deliver regardless of the vocalist's detrimental tendency to use unnecessary deathy growls on those.
The Evil in Me EP, 2015
Self Full-length, 2017
The second demo is a big improvement over the first one going for a more technical style enriched with some genuine slower, doomy parts. "Save the Days" combines the unbridled aggression of the debut demo with some nice technical sections. "Crionic Substance" is a speed/thrash mix with some good leads. "Innocent Victims" thrashes non-stop for about 4-min followed by another 4-min, but of a different nature: a seamless blend of speed and technicality ("The Lunacy Of Intelligence"). But even this sounds just like a rehearsal for the technical masterpiece "Vendetta Gentilitzia": a shredfest at its finest. "Last Meal!!" is a merciless, not very predictable ball of aggression, closed by some country joke tunes, probably taken from some drunken metal party, but still containing a couple of fairly intriguing embellishments.
Crionic Substance Demo, 1989
Desecrator... Full-length, 2015
666 Thrones Full-length, 2017
Jaguar Full-length, 2018
Lord & Master Full-length, 2020
"Stats of Tragedy": ten years' absense is a luxury which even Metallica wouldn't think of affording, but the good news is that the Jailors are here again, and their heavy stylish histrionics are on full display starting from the very opener "Human Unbeing", a prime example of lashing volcanity which grows into something faster on "Stats of Tragedy", before "Throne of Devil" nicely recalls mid-period Death in a stealthy, unobtrusive way the latter another inspired headbanger. The Death-y leanings stay around for "Merciless Punishment" which is progressive thrash with more dramatic death metal-ish accumulations. "Jesus Crisis" is another less ordinary lasher with progressive arrangements, and "The Need of Perpetual Conflict" is both more moderate and more technical speeding up towards the end. "Ephemeral Property" brings the shadow of Death looming even closer over the album, all in a good way, mind you, with its intelligent technicality, and the final "Six Six Sickness" is pure death metal madness again with a hefty technical edge. The more individualistic delivery from the debut has been sacrificed for the sake of vigilant guidance by one of the veterans on the scene, and although Death are probably the most imitated act right now, the Brazilians can be easily considered one of the best practitioners from this emulation wave.
Stats of Tragedy Full-Length, 2015
Feeding The Machine Full-Length, 1999
"The Prophecy" doesn't break any new ground, the band notching up the atmosphere from the get-go with the Oriental bouncer "The War of Canudos",
the alluring melodic ambience of "Imperial Armada" another highlight, the dramatic full-fledged thrashisms on "Strange Force (The Vegetal)" by all means a worth-mentioner, "Beer Song" going away with the laurels for the most aggressive piece here, a short sweeping headbanger which gets partly mortified by the creepy morose but pretty effective aesthetics of the closer "Battle of Riachuelo".
Still Macabre Full-length, 2017
The Prophecy Full-length, 2022
The debut starts well with the energetic "Karma Striking Back", but later on offers just listless radio-friendly power/post-thrash with less overt hardcore overtones on the very few more dynamic passages. The band have found a way to produce more meaningful music three years later on the sophomore album.
Beautiful Delusion Full-length, 2012
Lifetimebomb EP, 2000