Anihilated: Created in Hate

1988 was an incredible year for thrash, with essentials being produced by Slayer, Metallica, Artch, Bathory, Holy Terror, Megadeth, Testament as well as a slew of other bands springing up across the globe.  Oddly, almost as soon as its popularity peaked, so did the genre virtually wane and die.  Thankfully the millennium brought with it revived interest and it seems as alive today as it ever was.  Arising from punk origins Anihilated were one of the virtually underground groups that chugged along in the background at the time, and Created in Hate was something I stumbled across on vinyl on one of my many record-store trips back in the day.   Sometimes cheesy, its groovy heaviness was unexpectedly addictive, and I'm pleased that Marquee Records in Brazil have in recent years remastered it for a special CD release.

The music is heavy with a 'bassy' guitar sound and has a distinctness that is refreshing; overall I'm pleased with the audio performance of the remaster.  There's a myriad of fantastic riffs on this disc, songs like Slaughter, and Anihilated exhibit a bucketful of great ideas - for something that on the surface may sound a touch corny and derivative, the album is in reality brimming with delights.  I also appreciate the fact that the song structures vary from the boring and conventional verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/chorus tradition that all too many bands adopt, particularly in today's risk-aversive times.

It's pleasing that the booklet contains both the lyrics and an essay about the band in addition to Created in Hate's inception, helping to put the whole thing into a context that remained unknown for years to me.  The original track list is also suffixed with four additional live tracks.  If you have an interest in 80s thrash at all then this may well prove to be a nice buy for you.  The band also seem to be still going strong, which is great news.

My personal opinion of each track from the original album:
Chase the Dragon **
Slaughter ****
Power is the Path ***
Anihilated ****
Final Dawn ***
Nitemare (instrumental) ***
Aftermath ****
The Seventh Vial ***

Bonus tracks on the CD are live versions of  Slaughter, Final Dawn, Seventh Vial, and Nitemare.