While it pains for me to say this, but it's a fact that this is the age where Thrash has been religiously followed only by a handful of hardcore fans globally and the general Metalhead has moved on to other styles at the cost of ignoring the latest offerings in this beautiful genre. But for us seasoned fans, we continue to crave for more Thrash and just more Thrash.

So here we have the debut full length album of Austrian Thrashers INSANITY ALERT. With already having put out a commendable EP before, the band's self-titled full length released on October 18^th 2014, just brought joy and smiles to so many Thrash fans across the globe and made many fans of the genre stand up and take notice. After listening to it more than half a dozen times, it's clear that these boys mean business and are here to rip some ears apart. Right from the 1:42 min opener "Glorious Thrash", to the last song, every song brings the sweet spot between Punk and pure Thrash, clearly indicating their influences. Yes I'm referring to the Big Daddies like MUNICIPAL WASTE and DRI. But make no mistake, INSANITY ALERT have their own style, and the fact that this promo came with the lyrics added to the joy of listening to them for me. And it was worth all the details like the lyrics of the song "Macaroni Maniac"

If I don't get my daily dose
I'm going on a killing spree
And then you're all gonna die!
I'm like a junkie, need my fix
Can't beat the feeling, need my kicks
Yeah, it's just like gettin' high

That care-free-jolly attitude surely makes me feel I'm missing the moshpit! How else do you explain a 24 sec song like "F.U.N" with equal intensity in it?! "Weedgrinder" might just end up becoming the anthem for all weed smokers who also Thrash. Just to get more descriptive here, the guitars fire away constant bullets of riffs which are aptly followed by the blast beats of the drums and the bass. The fast vocals of  Heavy Kevy scream right into your ear-drums and bring out the punk style turning this Thrash album into a Crossover feast. Oh, and they are not just blind fast riffs too, they have some flavour and variety, like the flute introductions in unexpected junctions in "Mankind Eraser (Must Destroy All)", even though some of the songs are less than 2 minutes. Even the odd anthemic backing vocals give so much strength to the album like in "Arac Attack". Just when you think you had an overflow of similar style of Thrash, the band springs a big surprise to end the album with a fun parody cover of IRON MAIDEN's "Run To The Hills", and they even meddle with the title as they name their version as "Run To The Pit" with completely different lyrics. I did repeatedly wonder if any purists are going to be offended by the change of the lyrics, but then again, everything INSANITY ALERT does here is of pure class, with the chorus like

"Run to the pit, mosh for your life"
"Run to the pit, mosh for your life"

You just can't help but laugh and headbang repeatedly until you fall on the floor.

While this may not be the best Crossover or Thrash album technically, but sure ranks higher in fun factor. Some bands like INSANITY ALERT remind Metalheads to take their music lightly and just have fun. It pains to see so many great Thrash bands criminally ignored by prospective fans, but trust me, if there's a Thrasher in you, buy or steal this album!
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