Toranaga - Bastard Ballads (1988)

Toranaga were British thrash hopeful's who, despite some good reviews didn't really live up to expectation. Mind you, decades after the release of this debut opus I'm finding myself hooked on their almost bland style of thrash which puts so many of the modern imitators to shame. 'Bastard Ballads' is a gritty six track affair that includes a half-decent instrumental entitled 'Bastard Ballad.' This quartet, fronted by Mark Duffy were very much no thrills thrash but they also displayed a lot of melody within their sound and alongside the likes of Deathwish, Slammer and Hydra Vein didn't get the credit they deserved and I also preferred them to Xentrix who seemed to want to sound too American. Very much solid thrash metal without any real identity, amazingly this doesn't sound dated, but still rocks hard. Just a shame the UK thrash scene was regarded so low considering some of the fantastic bands it churned out. Fave track on the album being 'Dealers In Death'.
7/10