Teutonia via the Outback - Germany holds a special place in my heart. I love visiting, especially around mid-September to early October. I love the beer gardens, the 2 pint steins and of course Teutonic Thrash. As someone who has a certain penchant for thrash metal and in particular anything of a German origin, I try not to make comparisons lightly, but when I first listened to 'The Burial Begins' by Aussie bangers Killrazer, I was immediately thinking of early Kreator and Sodom. A bigger compliment is harder to give.

So, who the hell are these Antipodean death thrashers? They formed in Sydney way back in 2005 and put out an aponymous titled EP in 2008. That EP contained 3 tracks, 'Salt In The Wound', 'Suicide Command' and 'Sunken', all of which have been rerecorded and mixed for this debut album. They also managed to land themselves several spots on tours with the likes of Malevolent Creation and Vadar amongst others. It's been a long journey.

As debut albums go this is an absolute beauty. The New Wave of Thrash has a large number of bands who are death/thrash based in their orientation and, as you can imagine, this comes in a vast sliding scale of quality. I am happy to report, then reader, that Killrazer, are indeed in the upper echelons of the sub-genre. The whole album is packed tight with the huge growling riffs, pulse quickening beats and guttural roars that we love and demand.

The face melting does not occur immediately, oh no. They ease us in with a melancholic, string based instrumental which is almost Celtic or Eastern European in its construction. It's quite haunting. If a band ever wanted to create an Oxymoron between album opener and second track then this would be the touch stone...then they flay off our skin.

And holy fuck does our skin come off. This is truly brutally magnificent stuff! The remixed 'Salt In The Wound' starts the assault with some of that aforementioned Teutonic style. This track is already somewhat of a favourite in their locality due to its inclusion on some compilations. Track 2 'Suicide Command' sees the band play with tempo a little and begin to demonstrate some of those death leanings. This is also true of tracks 'Unleash Hell', 'Silence Your Insolence' and 'The Legions', all show that clear amalgamation of thrash and death. As I joyously meander my way through this glorious battlefield of extreme metal, I make a quick note to myself to remember to mention the production quality. So, production is excellent, thanks self. The mix is good and every jab and hook hits home hard.

A particular highlight is the song 'Sunken'. It's seven minutes and forty-four seconds of death/thrash heaven. Here the guys show us the whole spectrum of their talents. The intro is very 'Enter Sandman'ish (yes, of course it's a fucking complement) before hitting us with riff after riff and solo after solo of the highest quality. Doug Daltons death rattles narrate the pain of the song whilst his and Jimmy Lardner-Brown guitars cry and growl through the duration of this mind blowing track.

2021 has seen some brilliant debut thrash albums from the likes of Bloodkill, Mortal Vision and Eternal Evil. With 'The Burial Begins', Killrazer has ensured that they should appear in the conversation for best debut album. Most bands would kill to release a debut album like this and the question now is, will they continue to produce work of this quality, because that 'difficult 2^nd album' just became a reality!!