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Bulldozer > The Day of Wrath > Reviews
Bulldozer - The Day of Wrath

Some of the best first wave ive ever listened to. - 90%

Sadistik Blasphemer, April 25th, 2021

I am quite the fan of first wave black metal bands, I love the intense drumming and the raw production, the evil riffs and the blood curdling vocals. And what I love about this album is that it has everything I love about first wave bands!

Don Andras on drums was pretty good and enjoyed his work, however I didn't consider it groundbreaking or extremely great as it felt similar to other black metal albums that were produced around the early to mid 80s, however I see no problem with that.

A.C. Wild impressed me with his work on the bass guitar and I appreciate that the bass was not neglected during the mixing, but it was his vocals that impressed me more. I'm not usually listening to albums because of their vocals, but this album seems to be an exception.

And now on to my favorite thing about Bulldozer's "The Day of Wrath", Andy Panigadas's guitar work. Panigada's aggressive and evil, and yet beautiful sounding riffs just have me hooked on to this release. I would say the best aspect of this album would 100% have to be his (Panigada) lead guitar. Especially that beautiful solo on track 4 "Fallen Angel", as it has quickly become one of my favorite guitar solos in metal.

If i were to sum up this album in one sentence, that sentence would be; This is everything I love about old school first wave.

If Venom came from Italy - 82%

DesecratorJ, June 14th, 2019

When it comes to 80s extreme metal, Italy has never been a huge part of the game. However, some highlight bands from that country at the time were actually pretty good, such as Necrodeath, Schizo, and here we have Bulldozer. This band was probably the first one I ever heard from Italy that played this specific metal genre. At first listen, I didn't really enjoy the band if I remember correctly, and nowadays, I am still not a huge fan to be quite honest. Despite that, I really liked how Bulldozer played a more simplistic form of speed/thrash metal at their beginning, but later moved on to experiment furthermore with thrash that I didn't particularly liked unfortunately. Useless to mention how miserable the band turned out after the 80s though, with its techno crap that didn't even fit with the band's name itself. Luckily, we have something great to listen to with the album reviewed here, which has the sound and mood that most old school thrashers would like to bang their heads on.

Released back in early 1985, the first album of the band, called "The Day of Wrath" explores furthermore what Venom produced in the early 80s. Records such as "Welcome to Hell" or "Black Metal" probably influenced them at a high level. Their music can also be noticed to have some Motörhead touches in it too. Some people would see some similarities in sound when compared to the first stuff of Bathory as well, which is quite true to some extent. In fact, all those similarities are the reasons why I actually like this album better than the other material from Bulldozer. What we have here is some 80s black metal that has that primitive aspect and great atmosphere. Nine tracks are featured on the album, which two of them are instrumentals. The first one being "The Exorcism" is kind of a creepy introduction like many other bands did on the beginning of their records at the time. The issue I have with these sort of tracks is that sometimes they are way too long and it just makes you want to skip it ahead and move on to the real thing, which was the case for me on that album. The true experience really begins when the first real song kicks-in.

The incredibly good "Cut-Throat" instantly made me like what I have heard on this record, even in its simplicity of composition the speed and aggressivity displayed is undeniable, even the guitar solos are fitting greatly into the song. At least, the material on this album is quite varied and the tracks are really not similar to each others. One example of that is the following song called "Insurrection of the Living Damned", which shows a more mid-paced approach and focus more on the heaviness and the guitars melodies. Basically the same thing apply, but even more with "Welcome Death" that has a doomy mood and feels grim, especially with the creepy, but cool vocals of AC Wild. While Bulldozer were exploiting the potential that Venom left, the speed metal elements in tracks like "Fallen Angel" or "Mad Man" are amazing, these tracks goes straight to the point and no fucks are given. Of course, those kinds of tracks are easily found on lots of other bands material and in even better composition. However, these guys had that primitive sound and catchiness in the songs that it always made me come back to listen to them at times.

Even with its rather low-fi production work, the mixing was well-done since we can hear all the instruments at a decent level. The guitar solos are pretty furious though, especially in "The Great Deceiver", which reminded me of the kind of solos that Quorthon did on his 80s black metal albums. The drums are mostly displayed in "Whisky Time", which starts with a drum solo for the first minute before turning into awesomness, especially with its epic chorus. Well, the biggest downside of "The Day of Wrath" is definitely its ending, it's a five minutes long kind of useless track to me at least, I didn't find anything interesting in it whatsoever unfortunately. It consumes way too much time off the album and brings more or less just a mess of sounds. Anyway, despite of those downsides, I really enjoyed the great tunes on that record and I recommend every fans of the other bands mentioned in that review to give this album a listen. If you search for old school speed/thrash with a touch of grimness, this is for you.

Favorite tracks:

Cut-Throat
Fallen Angel
The Great Deceiver
Whisky Time

Italy's Finest, Part I: Shoulders - 83%

TheBurningOfSodom, August 6th, 2018

I mean to give all my respect to every band which took part in developing and shaping the most awesome musical genre that mankind will ever know. For example, at the moment of writing this review, my mobile phone contains 2020 songs, and something like 4 by Judas Priest, however you will never find me denying their historical role or their consistent discography. That applies also for Venom. BUT I've never made a secret of the fact that I place Bulldozer, 'TOTAL Venom clones' as Music for Nations liked to claim, miles above Cronos' crew in my tastes. And it's not a mere nationalist sentiment, though I'm proud that a band of this caliber came out of my Italy.

First, let me state the obvious: fortunately, Bulldozer didn't develop as a complete Venom rip-off band. Nevertheless things were a bit different at the time of their debut The Day of Wrath, where they stood tiptoed upon the shoulders of the Newcastle giants, Motörhead, Hellhammer etc. trying to carve out a space for themselves. Italian soil wasn't exactly the most fertile for metal bands at that time, so the rest of the world saw Bulldozer as an annoying little brother, not to be taken too seriously. Well, shame for the rest of the world then, because it missed the rise of the first act of the unholy trinity of underground Italian metal, since in a matter of a few years Necrodeath and Schizo followed, upping the ante in terms of sheer insanity, even if the last couple of Bulldozer albums remained the most refined works for a while.

At the time 'The Exorcism' makes its way towards our ears, we are immediately catapulted into pure '80s metal with all its interest in shocking satanism, every bit as cheesy as you may expect, with demonic screams upon the Latin words of an exorcist. When the instruments finally kick in, one can easily notice the demo-quality production, with AC Wild spitting out the lyrics in a credible Cronos fashion, going in and out of the speakers as the instruments drown intermittently his voice. Here, Andy Panigada's riffwork is enough to make you think he was rejected from Venom themselves, but overall there's clearly more technicality in playing if compared to their British muses, found especially in Don Andras' drumming and in the extensive use of solos by Panigada, which leave Bulldozer a bit more rooted in thrash metal. All this comes out sufficiently evil and amateurish at the same time, and what aspect you think is the most prominent is probably a matter of tastes. Just think that AC Wild's voice won't be soaked again in as much reverb as here, and you'll have a demonic aura which will never be replicated on subsequent Bulldozer records.

The songs tend to flow quite consistently, with some highlights: 'The Great Deceiver' takes the spotlight with possibly the band's best performance on this record, after an intro that somehow reminds me of Bathory's majestic 'The Golden Walls of Heaven'. The post-chorus part is surely the added value of the song. 'Fallen Angel', one of their very first tracks, uses a single good, if standard, Mantas-leftover riff throughout the whole song, with a great chorus:

Living in freedom
I don't need your light
And scorning your love
I'm feeling all right
Don't care what I do
I'm living the eternal night!


'Mad Man' saves the best riff for the end, after Panigada's lead playing dominated the first half. Not to mention 'Whisky Time', notable for its extended drum intro and its irresistibly catchy chorus line. As dumb as it can be, you will find yourself yelling 'IT'S FUCKING WHISKY TIME!' in a nanosecond. As we approach the end of the album, we're awaited by something different, namely the slow, solemn 'Welcome Death' and the instrumental 'Endless Funeral'. Maybe not the best tracks of the album, but they compensate for the lack of variety that one may have started to complain about.

I can imagine the local stir The Day of Wrath caused when it was released. Sure, mainstream Italian radio didn't care and continued with its metal-free palimpsest, people kept labeling metalheads as loud boors and cavemen, and everyday life remained the same. But something was happening beneath the surface, and it was simply becoming too big to be ignored.

With a wink of the eye - 66%

Felix 1666, May 7th, 2017
Written based on this version: 1985, 12" vinyl, Roadrunner Records

I remember the German metal press of the eighties. Right from the beginning, Bulldozer were mocked. One half of the scene was screaming "total Venom clowns". The other half blamed the band for being dilettantes. Very clever dudes wanted to know the difference between "Venom clowns" and "dilettantes", but this discussion doesn't matter in the scope of this review. Anyway, the crude spirit of the early Venom shimmered through every note of "The Day of Wrath". 156 clicks for Venom in the "Similar Artist" category are definitely no coincidence (but I must confess that I have no clue why the eloquent British thrashers of Sabbat are mentioned in this department as well). No doubt, the guys from Milan were heavily influenced by Cronos, Mantas and Abaddon, but debutants have the right to reveal their musical origin. Bulldozer's compatriots called Insane agree (and "Show no Mercy" at the same time).

The song material on "The Day of Wrath" was definitely better than the band's reputation. Admittedly, the boozy vocals can be classified as a run-of-the-mill effort and the riffing has its strengths and weaknesses. But at the end of the day, one finds some solidly configured pieces, sometimes enriched with a little quantum of absurdity. After the rather goofy than demonic intro, Bulldozer celebrate the stereotype and kick off the album with one of the fastest track of their repertoire. "Cut Throat" does not lack of speed, rudeness and criminality. The following "Insurrection of the Living Damned" - surprise, surprise - grabbed a place on the first issue of the semi-legendary "Speed Kills" compilations which also offered songs of less known formations like Slayer, Metallica or Exodus... The song has a more spooky touch. The voice is totally overloaded with reverb, but the riffing reveals a certain casualty. Without question, here were odd and self-mocking fellows at work.

The first two songs set the frame of the coordinate system of the band. The remaining tracks appear either rapidly running or pretty ponderous rumbling. Yet tracks such as "Fallen Angel" or "Mad Man" make clear that high velocity and more or less narcissistic guitar solos dominate the vinyl. Okay, some ideas do not work. The ending of "The Great Deceiver", for example, is much too long. Yet this debut originated from a country that did not possess a great metal scene. Back in the mid-eighties, Italians were almost exotic creatures in the (black) thrash metal community. Maybe this was a reason why Bulldozer longed for attention at any price and did not hesitate to present even pretty embarrassing lyrics ("Whisky Time"). However, the song, which is originally introduced by a drum solo, is not so bad at all.

Production-wise, the album does not reach for the stars. The sound leaves room for optimisation in terms of pressure, precision and transparency. Anyway, I assume that the band did not want to present its songs with a totally clean sound. The pretty simple songs - none of them is filled to the brim with meticulously elaborated riffs or surprising breaks, rather the opposite is the case - asked for an equally simple mix. Even the longest track, the slowly crawling "Welcome Death", does not hold a great variety of leads or melodies. Consequently, one is well advised to expect a pretty decent album, a document of its time - but do not think that it deserves cult status or something like this. Without being copycats, Bulldozer just had penned the alcoholic version of "Welcome to Hell" and they had done a solid job, no more, no less.

One of the biggest examples of extremism in Italy - 89%

CHRISTI_NS_ANITY8, September 29th, 2008

As a tribute for their recent reunion, I’ve decided to review for the very first time a Bulldozer album and I’ve decide to start from the debut, obviously. They are one of the true legends in Italy back in the 80s; a legend that never disappeared and somehow always remained to torment our dreams and rests. Together with Necrodeath and Schizo, Bulldozer represented the elite of the brutal thrash metal in Italy and they were surely the most Motörhead/Venom oriented. By the way, even traces of primordial death metal can be found here and the band is always fast, compact and truly brutal.

This debut is from 1985, so an important year for the growth of the extreme genre. “The Exorcism” begins with sounds of an exorcism (obviously) with prayers and screams to flow in distorted riffs and fast drums rolls. The first track is “Cut-Throat” and here the band is awesome. The vocals are guttural, extreme and very similar to the first Possessed. The riffs are truly essential and with traces of grindcore patterns, alternated to more thrash ones. The atmosphere is somehow sulphurous and truly morbid. There’s a stench of occultism and darkness here. Anyway, the production is not bad, absolutely. It’s just very loud in the volumes and not very polished for the sounds. The instruments, anyway, can be heard perfectly and the guitars are truly devastating.

The tempo is prevalently fast and the drums sound is very raw and essential. The few mid-paced parts are full of palm muting riffs too. To understand how much they took from the Cronos’ band, listen to the riffs on “Insurrection of the Living Dead”. The vocals here are black/death to me. They are screamed, malevolent and incredibly (for the year) morbid. This album is a mess of riffs, screams and pounding drums beats. The violence and the rage that move these guys are unmatchable and who cares if they were not technical or clean in their way of playing. They wanted to create a pure wall of occultism and violence and they achieved this goal.

“Fallen Angel”, “The Great Deceiver” and “Mad Man” show all the impact this band can create. The up-tempo parts are nasty and raw to support a shitload of vicious riffs from the darkness. The vocals are a bit echoing in some parts and they give you the idea of being recorded in a cave or in a basement but they acquire a feeling of morbidity and nastiness thanks to this. Some guitars solos, anyway, are quite melodic and this is great because they come along more violent parts where the tremolo picking and the shreds are preferred to complete the rawness of the sound. From the point of view of the lyrics, check the “Whisky Time” ones, they are hilarious! The song, instead, is another punch behind the head for speed and violence. The drums intro is mythical.

“Welcome Death” is pure Black Sabbath worshipper by the beginning with doom parts and long notes and than it turns to mid-paced patterns. The last “Endless Funeral” can be marked as the darkest and gloomiest one. The tempo is doomy and without a hint of light within. The guitars are desolated and desperate in the long solos. This instrumental is perfect to end an album that is always on high levels of brutality. This atmosphere breaks the impact and put an end to an album to remember for the sincerity and the musical importance. Bulldozer were the extreme in Italy and they are able to prove it to you, so listen to this one and be blown away by such brutal power

Whiskey Time! - 92%

overkill666, June 1st, 2008

Bulldozer is a very interesting band to me. The sound they put out is very raw, and filled with sounds that won't put you to sleep. This album is the first one I'd check out from Bulldozer.

The music Bulldozer put on this album is a mixture of two different things. Take the rawness of underground black metal, and take thrash metal and slam them together, and you get Bulldozer. The guitar work is very scratchy and raw, but proves to be melodic and catchy at times. They also use guitar solos, which is all ways good. The bass guitar is not as prevalent, but it isn't drowned out or inaudible. There is just no emphasis on it. The drum work is fitting to the music, and contains a lot of variation. He is good at playing slow when needed, and can pick up the pace to fit the music. The vocalist, like most thrashers, screams. He has a raw and raspy style scream which fits the music nicely.

Theres really not much more you can say about Bulldozer at this point. They are fast and raw, which most thrash bands look on to for inspiration. Bulldozer really put out a good one here, and this album should be considered an essential album to the genre. I'd recommend this album to you if you like raw production thrash metal.

A distorted mess of Thrash metal! - 75%

Satanwolf, March 6th, 2007

"The Day of Wrath," the first album by Italian thrash freaks Bulldozer, is an underproduced noisy mess of Venom-inspired mid 80-s thrash metal. It's not their best album (that'd be "The Final Separation") but does have it's moments. The album begins with "The Exorcism," which is exactly what it sounds like, a Catholic priest chanting as a demon growls, before breaking into whammy-bar madness. "Whiskey Time" Insurrection of the Living Damned" and "Madman" all show off some speed and good riffing, but the rest of the songs are not so memorable (again, the band's best songs are on "Separation"). The album is a difficult listen, and would've sounded more powerful with better production. This was produced by Algy Ward of the band Tank, and it sounds like it was recorded on a four-track recorder in a metal garbage can.


For hardcore fans of the band, this album will be an essential, and although it was a decent start for A.C. Wild and Co.(well, a band's gotta start somewhere), the band's other three full-length albums are much better listening, better produced and show off the diversity of the band as they grew from album to album.

Surpasses comparison - 95%

automg, November 2nd, 2005

I first heard of Bulldozer referred to as "an Italian Venom," but after listening to this album I can definitely say that there is much more to Bulldozer than that. Although it is fair to compare Bulldozer's raw, proto-thrash sound to Venom, this album really surpasses anything Venom ever did. The production is very similar to Welcome to Hell, as is the vocal style, overall rawness, and aggressively fast playing. Day of Wrath came out about 5 years after Venom's debut, so there is definitely more than just an influence here, but, Bulldozer takes it to a whole different level. The song structures are much more interesting and complex, the riffs more memorable if less catchy. There is no comparison between the quality of songwriting, Bulldozer writes some great songs. Perhaps what stands out most of all are the startlingly melodic leads that add a dimension to the music that is completely unexpected. Bulldozer have a distinctive style that makes them not only noteworthly to fans of the genre, but essential to fans of early thrash. Start to finish, there is plenty of interesting dynamic in the songwriting and variation between songs to make this a solid listen straight through.

The standout track on this album is Mad Man, with some of the weirdest and catchiest lead work I've ever heard. I'd really like to read the lyrics to this sometime, with song titles like Cut-Throat and Whiskey Time, I can only guess at what they'd be like

If you like Welcome to Hell but wish Venom could write more interesting songs, this album is definitely for you.

Nasty, mean a raw! - 85%

Dethrone_Tyranny, January 15th, 2004

When you take the satanic lyrical content and evil growls of Venom, and slam them together with the riffs and speed of Motorhead, this is what you'll end up with...


The Exorcism - Holy Hell, this is fucking evil! Geeze, this is only the intro but it rocks just as well as the rest of the album. When I hear this, I am reminded of those exorcisms that my elder relatives used to perform on people while I watched. It's mainly because they were spanish the priest heard here is speaking italian, which soudns sort of like spanish in a way. Oh well, all I know is that this is evil as fuck, and what would a good ol' exorcism be without those demonic sounds as well? This track has it all...

Cut Throat - AC Wild is like an even rougher version of Cronos on this one, as well as the majority of the album. This tune blasts out without warning, total fucking speed metal, raw and mean. Hellhammer and Bathory have absolutly NOTHING on these guys. Only the legendary Venom and Motorhead can compare when it comes to speed metal this fucking lethal. By the way, the highlight here is the blazing solo...it fucking KILLS!

Insurrection Of The Living Damned - The riffage on this track varies quite more. It's almost like the riffs were taken straight from Welcome To Hell or Iron Fist and altered a bit. AC's growls are much more harsh on this song, and the speed isn't as intense, but overall more groovy in places.

Fallen Angel - A fast and rapid Motorhead like riff kicks this one off, although it doesn remind me a bit of Live Like An Angel from Venom. There is really nothing too special about this track, but the solo is amazing.

The Great Deceiver - A cool, driving beat starts this one off, and then it's total speed and thrash from there. AC shows some intense and angry attitude in his vocals here. The highlight here is once again the solos. I mean, these solos fucking slay. Blazing fast and extream, just all out amazing.

Mad Man - The album's weakest tune, but it's not bad by any means. It changes pace and tone through out the song, but there really isn't anything more to. It's just killer fucking speed metal.

Whisky Time - This one is kicked off with a rapid drum solo that lasts for over a minute, and it sure as Hell is a good one. From then on, the speed metal starts up and makes you wanna raise some Hell with a beer in your hand, bashing the bottle over people's heads when you're done. In other words, this song fucking rocks. "It's fucking whisky tiiiiiiiiime!!"...the solo is incredible too.

Welcome Death - Starts off quite doomy, very Sabbath like, and then turns into a heavy mid-paced tune. One of the best on the album.

Endless Funeral - Very, very strange, but in a very good way. It's a mix of distorted guitars, odd sound effects and occasional growls, along with voices talking in the background. Starting from the middle of the track, it's a total shred fest. The shredding begins a little bluesy at first, but then turns extreme and slays everything.