SPEED KILLS COMPILATION - Various Artists

Artist:  Various Artists

Album: Speed Kills

Year:  1985

Genre:  Thrash Metal

I know I could easily check, but I am pretty sure I have not reviewed any compilation album so far. My first thought with complications is, “what’s the use?”  Recently, I was again reminded that compilations were monumental to discovering new music in my youth.  I vividly recall listening to “various artists” records way back in the early 80s when companies like K-Tel were releasing all of their radio hits and faux new wave comps that would get played on my record player over and over and over again.  For example, every second of the 1982 Blast Off comp is burned into my head to this very day.  Also essential were the mix tapes passed along from friend to friend used to show off the latest and greatest.  I remember making mix tapes off the radio before I ever had the newfangled technology of a dual cassette player.  Fun times!  Compilations were responsible for the exposure of so many bands I still love.

The compilation album that had the most massive effect on me was Speed Kills.  This import-only record was the brainchild of Music For Nations and Metal Forces Magazine and was paramount for anyone curious about the bands that would soon be creating a violent tsunami in the metal world.  It was released in 1985 when thrash metal and its closely related sister genres speed and power metal were still in their infancy stage.  Yes, by 1984, Slayer had released Show No Mercy, Metallica unleashed their first two albums and Celtic Frost, Voivod, Destruction, Overkill, Sodom and Dark Angel released their debuts, yet the rest of the pack were still getting their shit together to make 1985 a stellar years for the new style.  Just for the record, and probably an unpopular opinion, I don’t think Fistful Of Metal is a thrash album, hence the omission…sorry Anthrax.  The point is, in 1985 thrash was not some huge, over-saturated, over-marketed commodity.  Zines and tape trading were slowly emerging and only a few labels existed which were dedicated specifically to the music.  The major league metal publications didn’t know exactly what to do with these bands, so they were widely ignored.  Every once in a great while, you’d catch a review in the back of Hit Parader and they always bagged on the bands hard.  I recall reading horrible reviews of Celtic Frost (see pic below), Destruction and others.  This did not breed confidence in 14-year-old me to spend my limited money on new music that was getting trashed in print.  The only way to truly know what was good was to hear a band.  That’s where Speed Kills comes in and changed my view on music forever.  A little later on, the lesson was learned; never trust a magazine that covers Motley Crue in every issue.

Until I pushed play on the cassette deck (the LP entered my life about a year later) the only bands I had heard previously were Metallica, Slayer and Venom who all have tracks on the comp.  Side note…the live version of “Evil Has No Boundaries” by Slayer is better than the studio version.  The album could not have started in a better fashion with Hallows Eve’s “Metal Merchant.”  I remember instantly being captivated because blasting in my ears was the true underground and there was no way for me to envision what was next; everything coming at me was a complete unknown.  As excited as I was, I could have easily been just as turned off because the music was raw, barbarous and unrestrained.  The typical and somewhat safe Maiden/Priest production and presentation was definitely not present.  The only comparison I can make is watching typical 60s and 70s horror and then being floored by The Exorcist.  I had the same jarring feeling listening to this album.  Yet, it struck an enormous chord inside me.  It was as if I found my dark musical home.

As the taped rolled on, things just became more extreme.  I honestly remember thinking that the Destruction and Bulldozer songs were the most dirty, sinister things on the planet.  Once again, I was captivated.  Well, that didn’t last long because the beginning of Side 2 had “Pentagram” by Possessed which just about obliterated everything I thought about those two other bands.  A handful of songs later, we’re at the end of the record with a band that dropped a nuke on the rest of them. Yes, Celtic Frost with “Into The Crypt Of Rays” was the absolute highlight of the album.  So fast, so evil, so devastating.  Well, that was all I needed.  I studied it back and forth like homework.  This is the record that made me seek out Bonded By Blood.  This is the record that made me buy Killing Is My Business And Business Is Good.  This is the record that created a lifelong fan of Voivod, Destruction, Celtic Frost, Possessed and Hallows Eve.  It even made me a fan of Exciter who I thought had the weakest song on the record.

Once the iron gates opened for me, there was no looking back.  I was on a mission to find the next band I would love.   Thrash or not, I was buying everything I could on Metal Blade, Megaforce and Combat Records.  I took chances on bands because I read their name in liner notes or saw a band I liked wearing their t-shirt.  I began to write bands for demos, buy any underground zine I could find and trade tapes with people around the country.  I bought tapes and records by local bands and started paying attention to the scene around me.  Soon after, Death Records and Combat Core Records turned me on to bands like D.R.I., C.O.C, Circle Jerks, Agnostic Front and Broken Bones, which led me down a punk and hardcore path too long to write about here.  I like to believe my love of extreme music would’ve still formed without Speed Kills.  I truly don’t know.  It’s a record that has now had a 35 year impact on me which continues on as I get older.  I know the era I got to grow up during was special.  Some people got to see Elvis, the Beatles, the Stones, or Hendrix develop.  Some people saw Springsteen playing bars, or Zeppelin on their first tour, or U2 in a small club.  I got to see Metallica and Slayer take over the world and influence all the bands that make me a thrasher at heart to this day. Yeah, I wouldn't trade that for any of those other things.

I refuse to go down a comp reviewing rabbit hole, so I’ll just mention the most important ones that played a major part in expanding my music taste and knowledge:  Peace / War (aka International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit Compilation) was my biggest influence involving punk and hardcore.  So many stellar and groundbreaking bands. Incredible record!!!  Other important records are Punk And Disorderly, Look At All The Children Now, Grindcrusher, Oi! The Album, The Metal Massacre series, Industrial Revolution, We Got Power, Something To Believe In, Gothic Rock, Hell Comes To Your House, East Coast Assault, Welcome To Venice, This Is Boston Not L.A., Punk USA, New York Hardcore: Where The Wild Things Are, Complete Death, Flex Your Head, Welcome To 1984, Flipside Vinyl Fanzine series, New York City Hardcore: Together, The North American Noise Attack, Fat Music For Fat People, Someone Got Their Head Kicked In.  Make sure to check these out if you haven’t.