SLAUGHTER - Strappado CD

The story starts in 1984, when three outcasts from Scarborough, Ontario (where fellow speed metallers Sacrifice also hailed from) formed a band with the intention of being the fastest, sickest and heaviest amalgamation of contemporary extreme metal sounds that was around at the time. After releasing a few demos, the band entered a basement studio in Toronto (Futuresound; where Sacrifice had cut their debut LP just months prior) on a cold day in early February 1986 and committed their audio deathwish to tape all in the course of that one day. So much for prolonged studio time! I'm sure that many even extreme metal bands have labored months at a time holed up in the studio, and emerged with something they only wish could approach a tenth of the heaviness found on "Strappado."

1986 was the watershed year for early extreme metal, with bands such as Michigan's Repulsion, Florida's Death, Sweden's Bathory and Brazil's Sepultura all pushing the previous known sound barriers to unforeseen extremes in the form of the fastest, sickest and most brutal music around at the time.

In their own little corner of the world, Slaughter established themselves as another one of the brightest hopefuls with this amazing recording. You can hear the Discharge punk influence in these tracks, but also a heavy contemporary death metal influence that was all their own. The guitar sound, the ripping high speed riffing, the dual vocalists, one high and one low, and last but not least the near blast-beat style of the drums... it's all here. These guys were brilliant and it was all captured onto tape on that one fateful day.

All in all, absolutely mandatory for anyone wishing to sample a piece of lost extreme music history or anyone wishing to bang their head to some of the heaviest early death metal of all time. Only the highest possible recommendations come for this release.

Jewelcase CD

Triumvirate Of Evil Records