by Rusty Conner

The Scourge is a Houston-based thrash outfit featuring Andew Atwood, whom some may know from Dark Empire, and Garrick Smith who holds bass duty for live performances with Helstar in the US.  The element I love about this disc,  and the band, is their no compromise approach to a more traditional Thrash Metal sound.  The album isn’t afraid of the melody that was present in the beginning of Thrash.  Listening to this album takes me back to those days of discovering bands like Devastation, Kreator, and the like.  Andrew not only has guitar duties, but we see him blossom as a classical thrash vocalist.  There is plenty of scream and snarl to make any old schooler give a satisfactory nod.  The album starts with the self titled track, which is an instrumental introduction of the quality to come.  Throughout the entire disc, groove laden riffs are coupled with straight-ahead chug to keep the head banging start to finish.  The solos are blazing and add the right element to the songs without being too flashy or overpowering.  A personal favorite has to be “Crawling with Chameleons” which is an ode to the two faced.   Through and through First Comes Destruction is a must for any Thrash Metal fan.