Its honestly been a while since I listened to Portland thrashers, Toxic Holocaust. Originally familiarizing myself with the band back in early '09 through their, 'An Overdose of Death...' album, which was new at the time, and the previous, 'Hell on Earth,' release, which made me all hyped on the band and then, I, well..., just sort of forgot about them. Entirely. And their previous release, 'Conjure and Command' slipped past me, too. Well, sometimes bands come back into my life. Sometimes through tours, sometimes via a friends suggestion, but at least in this case I received an early promo of this brand spanking new album. Good to have these guys back.
'Chemistry of Consciousness' came as a big surprise to me, and its not as if the band went all weird and changed styles, no, its basically the same product Joel Grind and his madmen have been delivering from the get go. However, everything about this release is just full-on and just brimming with completely insane levels of badassery. Its one of those records where from the very first riff you know you're in for a hell of a ride, because soon as 'Awaken the Serpent' came ripping out of my speakers I instantly felt a wave of energy hit me. As the second song 'Silence' hit hard I was bobbing my head, tapping my feet, and by the fucking devil, by the time the fifth song, 'Out of the Fire' struck I was doing all that and head banging and pumping my fist right in front of my computer, and you know its a been a damned long time since a band got me going on the first run through their record.
Things just continue to kill with 'Acid Fuzz' & 'Deny the Truth', and the pummeling but short, 'Mkultra.' Three more songs grace the album for a total of eleven at just under thirty minutes of energetic, catchy and just completely fun metal music. As some sort of bastard mean motherfucking marriage of thrash, punk and hardcore, Toxic Holocaust pull it off flawlessly on 'Chemistry of Consciousness' and I can already say with little regret that this is an album that's going to stick with me for a while. Joel Grind has certainly wrote what I'd say is his strongest effort to date with just murderously awesome riffs, quick killer solos, ugly ass vocals, d-beat drumming, extremely catchy songs and just a fiery non-stop energetic metal mood from start to finish.
Hopefully I'll be able to procure the vinyl version of this one when its unleashed on October 25th. You should, too. 'Till then, its a few more beers, plenty of air drumming, headbanging and another run through, 'Chemistry of Consciousness.'
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