Agent Steel

With all the reissues and reformations these days, the old school fan is able to look at the scene from a perspective beyond that of a pimply teenage rivethead. It's like the last ten-plus-years never happened. Agent Steel is probably the most guilty, releasing an album that could be their classic Skeptics Apocalypse played backwards. There's not a lot that's changed since they first disappeared in the late '80s, except that Bruce Hall has replaced original screamer John Cyriis, the man who gave the band their distinctive edge. Now, they sound like any old thrash band.