English Dogs - Where Legends Began (1986)

Somewhat a cult band, English Dogs have a lot of punk elements to their sound and career in general and you can hear that on 'Where legends Began,' which is without a doubt their most metallic album but those punk influences still seep through the cracks, especially in the vocalist whose rather fragile pipes give the album a certain charm. 'Trauma...' 'Enter The Domain' et al struggler top shake off the punk tag but there's a lot here for thrasher too, especially in those devastating guitar licks. A lot of reviews have claimed that English Dogs are punks doing thrash, but if that's the case then they do it well, a track like 'Premonition' a fine example of how the band wield together the two styles, although 'Middle Earth' is hyper thrash through and through, injected with some interesting structures. Some may find the punkoid vocals a little grating, but 'Where Legends...' is still a furious little record for its time. 6.5/10