With the revival of thrash a lot of interesting bands reunited; like Death Angel. A lot of albums of the golden thrash era were honoured with superb re-releases, especially the albums of L.A.’s caffeine machine Dark Angel. Laaz Rockit is one of the lesser-known bands of the Bay Area thrash metal scene. They had a strong following during the eighties, but with the nineties approaching, the popularity of thrash was on a downward spiral and the band eventually broke up in 1992. Last year, however, we were surprised with the appropriately titled Left for Dead. As they jumped on the bandwagon again their first two albums have a proper re-release. City’s Gonna Burn and No Stranger to Danger.

 

I have to admit that the opening track of the debut sounds promising. It is a song that builds up slowly to what I first thought would be a killer thrash track. When I think of thrash metal music I think of fast music. I think of circle pits and dancing the toxic waltz. What I get is a tremendous out of date metal album. You could argue that this was to be expected due to the age of the album. However there are other albums from that era that have a way better sound.
 

The vocals are way over the top and you hardly notice the guitar. Don’t even get me started about the bass. You can only hear that instrument when everything else is quiet. The songs are equipped with a sound that is completely out of balance. I know that back then not a lot of producers knew how to produce metal. It is the reason why so many metal albums are equipped with a crappy sound.

 

Does it mean it is total crap? Well, I think ‘Dead Mans Ice’ is an interesting track, not particularly because of the slightly better sound. You can actually hear the guitars for a change! With ‘Forced to Fight’ I finally hit a fast track. Up until now I heard the slowest thrash metal ever. I am a fan of old fashioned thrash ever since I was pleasantly introduced to Slayer’s Reign in Blood. I know that it isn’t fair to compare this brilliant record next to this one. But it is clear that this will be picked up by the hardcore following of the band. I sincerely doubt that this would harvest a new breed of fans. Even though it comes with two bonus live tracks.