Anacrusis - Screams And Whipsers (1993)

This is truly startling thrash of many shades and mood. Anacrusis probably too clever for their own good...or the genre, and inhabiting some remote island of similarly genial and lost souls...Atheist, Mekong Delta, Coroner, Cynic, Watchtower, anyone ? Even so, boy, am I glad I experienced this record because 'Screams...' is probably one of thrash metal's greatest records. Jarring, complex, extraterrestrial, alone, intricate, grey, shifting, twisted, awkward...genius. 'Sense Of Will' drags the band to a misty mountain over-looking the wilted competition, hints of limitless Voivod, and yet blindingly catchy, which above all makes this record so supreme, its thorny ability to alienate despite its sharp edges and inaccessible climbs. 'A Screaming Breath' jerks...the bass bubbles, a tirade of staggered chords, a bass that trickles and weaves, vocals somehow lucid, almost gentle, then wrenched into agony before a dying moan...spectral. Similar trajectory displayed on 'Divisions' and 'Sound The Alarm', too good to be true if you ask me...occupying an industrial estate on the very edge of a yet to be discovered planet, a completely different cosmos of licks, twiddles and of course, those never at ease landscapes which appear so uninviting but once experienced take the listener through a vast pastoral place inhabited by strange faces. Anacrusis doesn't have to create its own identity, it is supernormal, and a few albums down the line the band have also created their own field, or league which to inhabit and lead, those which follow need not apply to the other place occupied by the seemingly great kings of thrash. Brain busting in its layers, yet riveting beyond comprehension, but who is brave enough to leave their boat on those fragmented waves and stroll on the uneven terrain to a place that holds many secrets ?

9/10