23. Xentrix – “Bury the Pain”

Ok! So it is not the length that we had to wait for a new Acid Reign album but it is still twenty three years in gestation for this Xentrix. For a bunch of fifty years old recording their first record in quarter of a century it isn’t half good. In fact, this is probably the best album that Metallica never made. This is intelligent songs based thrash and it is stunningly good. The riffs are crisp, crunchy and driving, underpinned by an equal sprinkling of aggression and melody. I can’t stress enough how mature the song-writing is. Rather than try to be everything to everyone, they have concentrated on creating songs that capture the imagination. This is thrash in that it is heavy and frantic but there is a reflective side too. Jesus! If they had released albums this good in their heyday they would have been household names.