What's All This Then?

MSW are a mid-paced thrash band in the vein of Slayer with some strong tendencies towards classic heavy metal. The vocals are gruff and abrasive and the drumming is done with one bass drum/pedal.

"What's All This Then" is an amateur recording and a decent mix of mid-paced and faster songs. None of the tones are enviable, but everything is pretty audible, though at times the guitar and bass go back and forth in clarity, with some of the faster guitar riffs getting a bit lost in the production.

"T.E.D.", or "Thrash Every Day", is a solid opener, it's the band's anthem: rough, abrasive thrash that borders on early death metal courtesy of the drawn out, rasping vocals that are more extreme than Slayer, but not quite in the realm of Possessed or Death's debuts. "Nightmare War" has the dark, eerie vibe that fits the name of the song, and it is led by a chugging, string-skipping riff of a minor-key melody - once again this reminds me of early Slayer, or perhaps Infernal Majesty's debut. The last track, "Product of Death", is the fastest one on the album, solidly thrashy, though a bit repetetive. The other songs are the same style as these, but a bit slower or toned-down - the three I named are the highlights.

This is really good for a demo for its era, it's nothing revolutionary but it's strong and sincere extreme thrash. Three of the six songs could have easily made their way to a high quality album had the band made one, and I would rate it even higher if these were the only three tracks.