Intruder A Higher Form Of Killing

It is nearly impossible for any new discoverer of what scattered remains are left from thrash scene of old to comprehend the sheer number of likeminded bands that once saturated the metal scene in the late-eighties until the early-nineties. There is little other way to depict this phenomenon but to liken it to the current metalcore explosion, and similar label hype that is increasingly surrounding it, as Hatebreed, Sworn Enemy, Avenged Sevenfold, and most recently Shadows Fall's signing to major labels are all testament to this newfound reality in the industry. And while thrash bands of old (with the exception of Metallica) had doors shut in their faces when attempting to modernize their sound for greater rock appeal, today's metalcore bands have no shortage of young, hungry fans waiting for them when the bands abandon their former hard sound in favor of major label domesticity. Watch Shadows Fall write a rock radio album for Atlantic next year, and watch them explode. Tennessee's Intruder were one of the many thrash bands snapped up by Metal Blade during its more decisive years; an era today's youngsters surely don't even know existed, while they spin kick and air drum to As I Lay Dying's newest, swearing that it's the best metal they have ever heard. Intruder's sound is true to the time, with lightning-fast and creative licks abounding within the aggressive thrash framework, over which James Hamilton's shouts, bringing to mind Anthrax's Joey Belladonna and Death Angel's Mark Osegueda's combined approaches, were laid. While Metal Blade has not thought twice about keeping classic titles from Sacred Reich, Sacrifice, Viking, Epidemic and Slaughter House out of print, a little-known U.S. label known as Lost And Found Records has begun the process of acquiring licensing to choice albums from this era, and re-releasing them, much as Relapse has been doing as of late with their Cult Classics series (Cryptic Slaughter and Atheist's discographies the most widely known titles from this new series). While until now, Lost And Found Records has focused solely on being one of the only reliable U.S. distributors for the German-only Century Media reissues series from the late-nineties, which helped classic titles from Nuclear Assault, Dark Angel, Forced Entry, and Crumbsuckers see the light of day for the first time in a decade, the label has finally ventured into unearthing classic titles themselves. Intruder's sophomore album and Metal Blade debut, A Higher Form Of Killing, is the label's first. Infamously remembered for releasing their 1987 debut Live To Die in a limited pressing with its jewel case affixed to a real sawblade, an album that was reissued sans sawblade on Hellion Records in 2004, Intruder dealt in a rambunctious form of conceptual and socio-political thrash where the rabidly-picked guitar riffs, ever-present breakneck speeds, and traditional gang vocals in every song all signified an authentic thrash product in A Higher Form Of Killing. Unlike many of the so-called thrash albums being released today with abstract cover art, Intruder's sophomore album featured hilarious and simultaneously quite prophetic cover art of gassed civilians and anti-nuke protesters' bodies being packed like sardines into a secret governmental cleanup-crew's van, ultimately for cover-up and disposal. This climate of nuclear ambition and conspiracy pervaded much of the A Higher Form Of Killing, bearing a stark contrast to most metal bands of today who seem to have so little to say about anything relevant in the world, instead relaying subjective accounts of their supposedly-unfortunate upbringings and the like. A Higher Form Of Killing is as relevant as ever, with album opener "The Martyr" centered around middle-eastern terrorists hell-bent on destroying Western ideologies and embassies. Other songs bearing scary pertinence to modern issues include "Genetic Genocide" (DNA and gene manipulation), "Killing Winds" (human and animals used as lab rats at Porton Down in England, from 1918-1939), and the fiction-inspired "Second Chance" (Philip Jose Farmer's 'Riverworld' series, in which dead humans are resurrected at 'Ethicals' on a new island), and "The Sentence Is Death" (Charles Bronson's cult 'Death Wish' films), among other inspired topics. Bottom Line: Whether thrash is back for good remains to be seen, but the newfound popularity of relatively new acts doing the style with some decency (like Municipal Waste and the lesser-known Random Acts Of Violence), in addition to Relapse and now Lost And Found Records' effort to provide a window into the last generation of authentic thrash, seems to indicate a resurging degree of popularity for the style. For fans of early Exodus, Nuclear Assault, Death Angel, and Forbidden, Intruder's A Higher Form Of Killing, while not necessarily their defining moment (their 1991 album Psycho Savant was), is still chock full of great songwriting, individual performances, and lyrical themes that make this album a sound choice for reissue.