Various Artists - Speed Kills VII album review

Legendary primer returns a bit too quickly

cOVER ARTWORK FOR Various Artists - Speed Kills VII album

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

The original series of Speed Kills albums were essential listening for thrash fans in the 80s, so it makes sense that the rejuvenated Music For Nations crew have resurrected the concept to celebrate the strength-in-depth of today’s scene. What is less apparent is what this seventh volume is meant to represent. For a start, barely half of the bands here play anything approaching yer actual thrash metal.

Acid Reign are flying the flag for the UK old school, with previously released reunion anthem Plan Of The Damned, Divine Chaos’s Ignorance Everlasting offers a contemporary take on the genre, albeit with plenty of death metal oomph and occasional proggy touches, and both Dungeon and Desolator offer a raw and chaotic strain of retro thrash that is easy to love.

However, none of black/death metal bands Formicarius, Nine Covens, Voices or Akercocke can be plausibly referred to as “the best young thrash talent around” as they are here, and the fact that Akercocke’s name is misspelt three times in the liner notes suggests that, despite Daniel P Carter’s brilliant cover art, Speed Kills VII is a bit of a rushed job. What Amulet are doing here is anyone’s guess; their Highwayman demo is likeable UFO-meets-Diamond Head rowdiness, but its contrived vibe seems incongruous. In truth, there’s no denying the quality of much of this. Akercocke’s Inner Sanctum is as perversely brilliant as diehard fans will have expected and will probably give most underground diehards sufficient reason to check Speed Kills VII out. Similarly, The King Is Blind’s Throne Of Skulls noisily encapsulates the band’s brutish, black-hearted appeal and sounds like the work of a band with the wind in their sails; Voices’ Petrograph is a triumph for eccentricity, as post-Voivod discord collides with the scabrous avant-garde; and Nine Covens’ Through Fires Of Tyranny is an unstoppable torrent of hallucinatory grimness.

But given how many great young thrash metal bands there are knocking about, this seems like a missed opportunity that squanders the spirit of its legendary predecessors through lack of attention to detail.

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s. 

Latest in
Adrian Smith performing with Iron Maiden in 2024
Adrian Smith names his favourite Iron Maiden song, even though it’s “awkward” to play
Robert Smith, Lauren Mayberry, Bono
How your purchase of albums by The Cure, U2, Chvrches and more on Record Store Day can help benefit children living in war zones worldwide
Cradle Of Filth performing in 2021 and Ed Sheeran in 2024
Cradle Of Filth’s singer claims Ed Sheeran tried to turn a Toys R Us into a live music venue
The Beatles in 1962
"The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have?" Record shop owner finds 1962 Beatles' audition tape that a British label famously decided wasn't good enough to earn Lennon and McCartney's band a record deal
The Mars Volta
“My totalitarian rule might not be cool, but at least we’ve made interesting records. At least we polarise people”: It took The Mars Volta three years and several arguments to make Noctourniquet
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Latest in Review
/news/the-darkness-i-hate-myself
"When the storm clouds clear, the band’s innate pop sensibilities shine as brightly as ever": In a world of bread-and-butter rock bands, The Darkness remain the toast of the town
Sex Pistols at the RAH
"Open the dance floor, you’ll never get to do it again." Forget John Lydon's bitter and boring "karaoke" jibes, with Frank Carter up front, the Sex Pistols sound like the world's greatest punk band once more
Arch Enemy posing in an alleyway
Arch Enemy promised they'd throw out the rule book for Blood Dynasty. They didn't go quite that far, but this is the boldest album of the Alissa White-Gluz era - and it kicks ass
The Darkness press shot
"Not just one of the best British rock albums of all time, but one of the best debut albums ever made": That time The Darkness added a riot of colour to a grey musical landscape
Roger Waters - The Dark Side of the Moon Redux Deluxe Box Set
“The live recording sees the piece come to life… amid the sepulchral gloom there are moments of real beauty”: Roger Waters' Super Deluxe Box Set of his Dark Side Of The Moon Redux
Cradle Of Filth Press Shot 2025
Twiddly Iron Maiden harmonies, thrash riffs, horror, rapping (kind of) and sexy goth allure: The Screaming Of The Valkyries is peak Cradle Of Filth