Acid Reign - Moshkinstein (1988)

I could've sworn I'd reviewed the mighty Acid Reign previously! Maybe not! Okay so if you're not in the know these guys were a cult UK thrash band who released a handful of albums including this debut mini-platter. Very much splattered with humour, Acid Reign were never fully taken seriously, but beneath the comedy there was a real talent for cutting thrash metal. 'Moshkinstein' featured six tracks including the epic 'Motherly Love', the perfect ode to fictional serial killer Norman Bates. Admittedly there was a low budget fell about what Acid Reign did and H's vocals were a touch primitive, and, dare I say it, amateurish in their joyous naivety. Acid Reign were not the most technical of thrashers, and were probably more famous for their rather dodgy album covers, but I recall buying 'Moshkinstein' in the legendary Shades record store in London and was always glad of the purchase. Like a lot of UK thrash these sort of albums were let down by the quality and almost grating guitar sound, but tracks such as 'Suspended Sentence' and the already mentioned 'Motherly Love' somehow made AR stand out from the crowd - these guys were certainly not reliant on the US thrash crunch and instead carved out their own merry brand of thrashcore. A trio of albums and these guys were done.
6/10