Toxic Holocaust

Conjure And Command

Relapse Records 2011

Toxic Holocaust have been a pillar of the Portland, nay, American thrash scene for the past decade as evidenced by their tons of EPs, splits, and full-lengths.  And now we have their latest opus, Conjure and Command.  But with as productive and as ethically "correct" as TH is, I always find myself wishing for more from their releases.  Maybe my expectations are too high, but the songwriting is not as memorable or as powerful as it should be.  Anyways, the album opens with a real scorcher, Judgement Awaits You.  A sinister, Slayer-ish buzzing riff is punctuated by snappy snares and a fiery guitar solo.  The stomping energy of the song's middle is very moshing-inducing.  Agony Of The Damned has an almost death metal feel to it which is compounded by a Stockholm melody as the song opens.  The song quickly breaks into a slamming chug section, which elicits a brutal melee in the pit.  Red Winter is likely the high point of the album for me with its almost crusty pacing and crunchy main riffs.  It's almost like Tragedy meets Slayer.  And if that wasn't Slayer enough for you, Nowhere To Run is even more so with its heavy, rollicking riffage that leaves you battered and bruised.  In The Depths Of Your Mind is a driving, shredding machine.  Its pace is a fast gallop with blasts of frenzied thrash!  Toxic Holocaust have produced another album of solid thrash that neither breaks the ground that makes it great, nor does it fall flat.  Joel, TH's mainman has the right attitude, ethics, and scene integrity.  However that doesn't mean a great album.  Conjure and Command is a middle of the road thrash album that is good but never escapes its own shadow.  However it is also better than a ton of other derivative crap that passes itself off as thrash these days.