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Very good - 88%
When listening to this album a few years later it sounds like just another typical Dead Head album. In fact it is. They once again focus on playing Kreator/ Slayer based thrash at 78 rpm with an incidental deathish riff thrown in. But to fully understand the impact this album had, one needs to know the background. There were no less than 6 years between this album and it’s predecessor. During that time not only original drummer Hans Spijker returned but also bassist/vocalist Tom van Dijk had been absent for a while.
Just after their most polished and sophisticated album “Dream Deceiver” Dead Head were on the brink of becoming just a bit too mainstream as proven by their 1995 demo which took their music even further into the mid paced and melodic regions. Somehow the band all of a sudden then decided to throw that approach overboard and return to their furious roots. They recorded a new 6 song demo with the returning Hans Spijker on which the band regained their earliest aggression and speed. This must have felt more natural since they then recorded this album, ‘Kill Division’ which was so furious one couldn’t even imagine it was the same band who recorded “Dream Deceiver” earlier. Normally a band gets more mellow when aging but Dead Head deliberately turned that principle around.
What Dead Head does well here is keeping the songs compact and to the point. Something they did have some troubles with on their next album ‘Haatland’. Not yet here fortunately! There’s not a song exceeding the 4 minute limit and this is for the best. The album sticks to efficient brutal thrash metal songs and is over before you know it. Well, apart from… that out-of-place last song. The Saxon cover ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’. Despite being a good song obviously (hey, it’s early Saxon!!) It doesn’t suit the album and sure as hell is not a nice closer. This is b-side material and only damages the intensity of a raging thrash metal album like this.
Apart from that little mistake, just a great Dead Head album and certainly recommended to anyone who likes aggressive thrash.
