Toxic Holocaust – Conjure And Command

Joel Grind is one of the first names that come to your mind when you are talking about the thrash metal revival that is occuring. Toxic Holocaust are a band that, with their 3 previous releases, have made a lot of people bang their heads with their music and talk about them. They love pure thrash and this is what they create. So 3 years after they last release, Toxic Holocaust are back with their 4^th studio album, “Conjure And Command”.

An importand change has occured to the band. In their previous releases Joel Grind used to play all the instruments in the studio (or hire some session musicians to help him), and then he hired a drummer and a bass player for the live performances. This album is the first that was recorded by a full band and more specifically, Nikki Bellmore played the drums and Phil Gnaast played the bass.

Hell breaks loose by the time you start listening to the album. 10 songs capable to make your adrenaline hit red with their raw power. Grind knows exactly how to create a record that will blow your head and this is proved once again. Those that have heard Toxic Holocaust before know more or less what they are going to hear since there are no big changes in the music of the band in this album. Pure and agressive thrash songs with a  great rotten sound and the full-of-hate vocals of Grind are what you will find here. The music if riff-based and be sure that you will find a lot of kick-ass riffs in “Conjure And Command’! Songs like “Bitch” (in which the band makes it clear that they are huge Sodom fans), “Judgement Awaits You”, and “Revelations”, are evidence that this band was not a flash and that they are here to stay, because those songs could easily fit in a “big” band’s record! There is also a song that makes the difference , “The Liars Are Burning”, that contains a lot of hard rock elements in it and it is definitely a very pleasant surprise to find. In some parts of the record you may also notice some small black metal elements which I think that they fit very good to the music. The mid-tempo moments are as good as the fast ones; the band must have worked a lot on this record.

“Conjure And Command” is a very good thrash metal record. It is pure, agressive and violent. Actually, I could describe it as an elbow in the teeth! Toxic Holocaust are in a great creative mood and they are not willing to slow down. My personal advice: Don’t listen to this album when you are very pissed off. People and objects around you will be in a great danger!