Kill To Survive (Hol) - Meliah Rage [CD]

Meliah Rage were a hungry young band from Boston who unleashed this cracker of an album back in 1988. They do have something of a cult following. "Kill To Survive" was their debut. Meliah Rage walk that line between Thrash and just straight-up Heavy Metal with chugging riffs that veer from melodic to thrashy and back again. The vocals of Mike Munro were aggressive while still being melodic, like Rock N' Rolf's vocals on the first few Running Wild albums. This is very Thrash influenced, but Meliah Rage still kept a riff-oriented songwriting approach and allowed for speeds other than rat-tat-tat. There's nothing extraordinary about this disc, it just kills. It's short, but every song is solid and high-energy and will get your fist in the air. Traditional Metal or Thrash fans who can find this one should snag it, as this is just a great little gem of an album - heavy, crunchy metal from the old days that really delivers.