Artillery Terror Squad

Artillery 'Terror Squad' (Neat Records, 1987)

Neat Records were a legendary record label from Newcastle with an unmistakable and simple thumbs up logo. They were purveyors of the finest NWOBHM including Raven, Tygers of Pan Tang (both covered by Kreator) and Blitzkrieg (famously covered by Metallica). They were also the home of the most over the top and possibly the most influential of all NWOBHM bands, bar Maiden, Venom. Neat were respected, but also somewhat patronised by the metal press; it was a typical example of 'Britishness' i.e. it can't be good if it's home grown. However, if you look back at their roster it's clear that no other label so impressed and influenced the emerging thrash genre.

Artillery are a Danish thrash band who released their first two albums, this is their second, in the mid to end period of Neat's existence. It's easy to understand why they signed to Neat and why Neat snapped them up because they are the natural conclusion to Neat's earlier releases. It's heavy, well played, betraying a technicality even Venom eventually aspired to, and not quite first rate.

I remember Artillery clearly due to Don Kaye relentlessly plugging them in his 'Deathvine' column in Kerrang!. They were also heavily hyped by Bernard Doe in Metal Forces and Neat did a great job with advertising because the awful 'Terror Squad' artwork was a topic for discussion even for those who didn't own the album.

This copy has 'WITHDRAWN' stamped across the front cover and across the lyrics and, according to the stamp on the vinyl labels, it was once the property of Inverclyde District Libraries. When slapped on the Deathdeck this plays like new so the borrowers of Inverclyde must have been gentle Scando thrash lovers.

Upon first impression it's amazing how much this sounds like a Bay Area thrash band, it's pristine with perfect separation between the crunchy guitars, snappy rhythm section and banshee vocals. Then you remember that 'Ride the Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets' were both recorded in Lars Ulrich's homeland at Flemming Rasmussen's Sweet Silence Studios and it begins to make sense. This really does sound like Testament's awesome debut, 'The Legacy', if it had been produced by Rasmussen.

Despite the fact that I have often poked fun at Artillery over the years, mainly due to what I considered unmerited hype (and some terrible artwork and ad campaigns - 'Mine by right, mine by inheritance'!), I am unashamed to admit that this is absolutely killer.

Brilliant thrash that is somewhere between the heavy European proto death of Kreator and Destruction and the technical but brutal mosh heavy Bay area bands like Exodus. I have to say again that this reminds me so much of Testament it's uncanny, 'The Challenge' and 'Decapitation of Deviants' sound exactly like lost tracks from an EP that should have been released between 'The Legacy' and 'The New Order'. It's really excellent stuff.

Special mention has to go to Flemming Rönsdorf who definitely has a unique set of pipes which can hit screeching heights whilst still maintaining the necessary grit and to the fantastic pictures on the back cover filled with wonderful thrash taches and stone washed denim.

What a treat, nice one.

Peace