Tarantula - s/t (1987)

Is this THE worst metal abum cover of all time ? Who cares, because the guitar solo intro on the track 'Adamastor' could well be one of obscure metal's finest moment, leading us into a cavernous metal track that reaches int the darkest depths of the genre to provide us eager metalheads with a dose of deadly power thrash that even boasts some keyboard atmospherics to boot. This is a killer record, probably recorded in some ruinous castle, but a record that exhibits some wondrous musicianship and melody, 'Adamastor' rises above on every listen, a techno-fest of many moods that dazzles us with obscure vocals, and a gem of a bass player who, when combined with those killer solo's and raging drums, makes Tarantula an intriguing listen. 'Battle Of The Victory' is pure old schoolo metal with a creeped out effects-orientated intro that sounds as if it's been lifted from some weird sci-fi movie, but again the ear splitting guitar comes in, puncturing the atmosphere before rolling into an almost poppy riff of some absurd nature. Suddenly Tarantula are a progressive thrash act, creating jarring structures and odd melodies and by this point I'm wondering what's going on, but all the real metalhead's brave enough to stick with this oddity will no doubt find pleasure in the brooding 'Cry For The Spider' and the Gothic rumbling of 'Fear.' I'm not sure how well known these guys were in their native Portugal, but Tarantula are a very unusual 'thrash' band who, in 1987 ploughed the fields of obscurity, and built vamp there! 7/10