This debut album from Pasadena Napalm Division has been brewing for a while. Made up of 3 parts Dead Horse, 1 part Verbal Abuse and perhaps most famously; 1 part D.R.I. in the form of Kurt Brecht. This band have been cooking up their formula of acidic crossover for a couple of years at a local level. It’s time to unleash them worldwide with the release of their debut full length album.

You should never judge a book by the cover but you can when it comes to Thrash music. P.N.D. have the essentially toxic looking artwork along with some heavily mutated poor sod. Plenty of green slime and acid means we can tick the first box!

The album starts with the short sharp kick of ‘100 Beers with a Zombie’ which is about drinking beer with a zombie. Funny that (second box ticked). It sets the tone of the album brilliantly; P.N.D. are predominantly here to have fun and in true thrash tradition that means worshipping the drug of choice: “alcohol”.

“Bleached Blonde Despair” is the first slower track in the albums second slot and takes a more sober route through the depths of despair. It’s a pattern that continues through the album. For every beer fuelled thrasher there’s a hangover song that goes a bit deeper and it gives the album some real depth.

It’s tongue-in-cheek that works best however and you can’t help but smile at some of the stuff on here. ‘Dreamland’ tackles the ideal world for a touring band with a backhanded dig at those who make it hard work, while ‘All of a Sudden Dead’ outlines a hilariously disastrous first date.

Present on a lot of the album and taking lead vocal duties on ‘Murder the Bearded Lady Killer’ is Tony Forester (Municipal Waste). This only goes to demonstrate where Tony has been getting his inspiration from all these years, but he does a great job as usual and it may just help catch the attention of a few fans who would have let this pass them by without his input.

With the surprising persistence of the “New Thrash” revival continuing to an extent where we can’t really call it new anymore; the door is left open for the originators to have their day again (or for the first time). Once people have digested the Big Four and the Teutonic masters they may look at the crossover scene for something that little bit different. All boxes are ticked here and Pasadena Napalm Division are as good an example as you’ll find. Brilliantly dumb aggressive punk styled Thrash and generally the soundtrack to a bloody good time.

8/10

Out now on Minus Head Records

(Look out for the Ltd Edition run on Green Splatter Vinyl on Dry Heave that’s coming soon!)

Rob W