Deathhammer

Thrash metal from Norway done the underground way: hysterical delivery, insane production, ludicrous ideas of what can pass for acceptable singing and playing. The polka-on-78 beats, the suicidal dive-bomb solos ― it's like Kreator if the guys in that band all got wasted and issued a challenge to see who could play the fastest. This is just a heads down race to the end, an endless array of riffs that all blur together, the occasional death grunt ― just old school worship all the way. Sick of retro thrash being a bit too fun? Check this out; it's fun but without being self-consciously so. Fun like a Destruction cassette warped by the brutality of the sun and the relentless ticking of the clock conspiring to make the beats that much faster. Throw in some hideous old-school cover art, misplaced high-pitched screams and song titles like "Seduced by the Flames" and "Deaththrashing Sacrifice," and it's still a good enough world for me as long as albums like this exist.