Dream Death - Journey Into Mystery (1987)

Pretty cool doomy thrash that takes its influence from early Slayer, Celtic Frost and there's even shades of Obituary there - before Obituary were even born! There's a gloomy edge to this record, a cult platter boasting a cool cover and musicians who clearly know how to create a macabre riff or two. The band shift between chugging weirdness, occasional faster oddities and then, to greater effect, slower, more menacing noise, giving 'Journey...' a real air of eerie atmosphere. Vocally it's in the vein of early Tom Araya (Slayer) and whilst production was never great on these type of records, Dream Death weren't a bad little band and thankfully their unusual stench of thrash lived up to the 'mystery' in the title. 6.5/10