Toxik – Think This

vote
9.5

• Band:
  Toxik
• Duration: 00:44:47
• Available from: 13/10/1989
• Label:

• Roadrunner Records

When we talk about Thrash Metal, it is often easy to take it for granted that it is a substantially linear and straight genre to the point, with very identifiable features and strongly based solutions on the combination of speed and aggression of clear punk inspiration. However, there are several formations that have been able to transcend such boundaries in a personal way, making it clear how ductile and interpretable the latter, if approached with the right intelligence and as long as they keep some essential characteristics intact.
Well, among the realities belonging to the so -called vein of the technical thrash metal, there is one that in its time has managed, albeit initially with only two albums, to propose its own interpretation, without however defeating directly into the progressive typical of people such as the Voivods or in the refinement of the Megadeths, but remaining indeed tremendously consistent with what the most classic Thrash had incarnate for a whole decade, increasing, increasing, increasing, increasing, increasing The use of the melodies and placing emphasis on a clean and ringing sung, as well as on a use of the guitar as an authentic virtuous and visionary of the solo.
In this regard, the man who owes the very existence of the US Toxik is precisely the guitarist and leader Josh Christian, who, with the first album “World Circus” of 1987 had already given an important telluric shock to the scene, but only partially leaving the sown. In fact, it is with “Think This”, released two years later, that its deviated genius emerges definitively: it is certainly a more difficult and less straight work than the already incredible debut, and prevents both solutions at the limit of the brain, as of captivating and disruptive phases at the right point, capable of breaking even more the rules in the name of the pure compositional and executive capacity, as well as the desire to put in music of obsessive and dystopian issues, with a strong focus on the political conspiracy and unhealthy folds of the society of the time, in the middle of the period of changes in view of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
It is not easy to describe a disc like “Think This”, precisely because each piece enjoys its own identity, and the strength it manages to transmit in each single juncture is incredible, resulting in a different way depending on the song taken in analysis: the initial title-track is an authentic chasm of chaos, as dissonant as it is catchy and catchy, albeit so sick and peculiar Thrash Metal traces most recognizable by fans, a bit like the subsequent “Greed”, whose refrain should be taught in music schools. Similarly, “There Stood the Fence” is an authentic ballad with Power/Hard Rock tones, however with a sort of diabolical and oppressive halo to hover on a song as touching as it is unsettling.
However, let's not forget that we are still in the presence of a thrash disk, and it is logical that the blows do not miss: “Spontaneous” and “Black and White” are authentic Speed ​​Metal derivation derivation, in which the BPMs are gaining in cannon and the desire to framatous their bones in the Moshpit irreparably pervades the listener, but always keeping the brain on Attentive, given that there is no shortage of bizarre moments or the vents of genius. Not to mention the illuminating cantat of Charles Sabin and, above all, of the Guitar Work by the aforementioned Josh, who grinds Riff, alone and forced with a disarming speed and always managing to highlight his immense techniques; Moreover, in pieces that do not skimp on time changes and counter-intuitive rhythms, which makes the support of his momentary colleague John Donnelly and bassist Brian Bonini even more important. In this regard, it makes us smile that in the lineup there is a piece like “Technical Arrogance”, whose title perfectly summarizes the sensations transmitted positively by each note played during these three quarters of pure enjoyment.
Even the drummer Ted Leer emerges in the manner of a real piovra, as confirmed by his complex and impactful figures, well distinguishable also in the “WLR Njnb/in God” piece, where they are supporting some melodic connotations with a power metal aftertaste, already present previously, albeit not so obvious. All before an even more destabilizing combination, made up of the lashing “Machine Dream” and that “Out in the tiles” by the drifts again tending to hard rock.
The final pairing maintains this semblance thanks to “Shotgun Logic”, however reducing its contribution in favor of a renewed lacerating aggression, which reaches the climax in the last complete song, or “Time After time”, which pushes for the last time on the accelerator without any moderation, closing the album in beauty and gradually resulting in the “Think That” author. musically and thematically at the beginning.
In conclusion, we are no question of one of the most representative albums of the from the whole representative fatent of Technical Thrash and, despite it, it is a band that has never been able to achieve a commercial success worthy of her name (also due to a demure, then stopped at the age of ages sent), her contribution, aimed at customs a certain approach to the typical styles of the aggression and the bent and the bent and the bent and the bent and the bent and the bent and the beating and the beating and the swing, is amended. Versatility often seems to escape the most extreme listeners; Not to mention the use of the instruments and, in particular, of the guitar, which is squeezed here with an inimitable skill, to the point that even today many guitarists do not miss the opportunity to mention their influence. Among these, we want to mention the very Italian Olaf Thorsen (Labyrinth, Vision Divine), dedicated to an apparently different and distant genre, yet so close to what was proposed by the Toxik in this milestone of Thrash and the whole metal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eydyphzzvvqvq