Paralysis - Visions - (1994)

I'm sorry to bombard you with more pulverizing techno thrash, but Dutch band Paralysis are essential listening if you dig bands like Watchtower, Despair etc. This is a corker of a record, not as jarring as some, in fact it's a relatively fluid opus and those clear vocals give it that extra cold class as the progressive sound structures tumble in the not too far off distance. Even so, Paralysis know when to thrash, and thrash hard they do, 'The Water's Cry' has some superb bone-cutting chug guitars and hyper drums but where the band show their excellent musicianship is on tracks such as the epic metal of 'Lost In The Darkness' and the 7-minute 'Tardis', a multilayered beast of a track that begins life as a sweeping Gothic ballad before transforming into a slab of cold, hard Maidenesque metal, but fave cut on the platter has to be the almighty 'In Mermoriam' boasting a juggernaut thrash chug. This is an obscure classic, and I also recommend their 'Arctic Sleep' and more recent and more experimental 'Architecture Of The Imagination' which comes complete with turntable samples, industrial effects and some astounding mellow passages. Paralysing indeed. 8/10