Warbeast

If you were a child in the '80s, you probably had a mixture of fear and curiosity about the scrawny longhaired guys with bad teenage mustaches and sleeveless black T-shirts sporting gory or Satanic band logos.

Warbeast's debut CD, Krush The Enemy, is the kind of music those guys listened to. But it doesn't just sound like the kind of full-throttle blast of thrash that was perfected by metal bands in the '80s, it is: Guitarists Scott Shelby and Rick Perry rose to prominence during thrash's glory days in Gammacide, and singer Bruce Corbitt provided vocals for legendary Dallas Capitol Records coulda-beens Rigor Mortis. In Warbeast, these three old pros are joined by drummer Joe Gonzalez (of Dallas death-metal group Demonseed) and bassist Alan Bovee (who joined Gammacide for the 2006 reunion) to recreate the kind of double kick-drum thunder and shredding, fingertapping solos that kept underground metal viable during the glam-metal days—and inspire retro-thrash bands today.

But judging by the precision of the rhythm section and the fury of the twin guitar riffage, Warbeast is much more than a few old farts starting a hobby band to relive their glory days. That's not to mention the passion with which Corbitt barks out his guttural vocals on songs like "Self Will Run Riot," about the helplessness of an addict.

In fact, the delivery is very reminiscent of Phil Anselmo's best work with Pantera. Little surprise to find out, then, that Anselmo is the album's producer and label owner.