Evil Invaders

“we spit on those who choose to pose, we thrash with all the rest…”

Anyone on the US east coast remember the U68 Power Hour? U68 was a UHF channel that would only come in clearly if you were doing a headstand in the bathtub with one sock on, but that was usual for most UHF channels. Why bother, right? Well, if you didn't have cable tv back then, not only were there a lousy eight channels to choose from back, one late hour every Friday night there was a program featuring metal videos, and three or four of the ones it played were those for underground bands, which would become my first video tastes of Voivod, Slayer, Exodus, and this band called Razor. “Evil Invaders” blew me away; the timidly unassuming start, Stace “sheepdog” McLaren growling and screaming through a long mop of blonde hair, the vehement pace…that December I got the album for Christmas.

As one of the world's more prevalent thrash acts, Canada’s Razor never compromised their sound, never changed it for something newer or more hip, and are one of the most respected of their genre. With the now-rare ’84 ep Armed and Dangerous, the thousand or so who heard it (only around that many were pressed) either shunned the disc for more glam practices or were galvanized to seek out their next year offering Executioner’s Song. This is actually their third release, a second for '85, and they were still just getting started. They are one of the few bands I can say I am a fan of all the way through their career, and Stace McLaren is one of the best, most intense screamers you’ll ever hear.

Evil Invaders kicks off with “Nowhere Fast”, an instrumental of heatedly-picked aggression that leads into the more ominous “Cross Me Fool”, a strong moderate pacer showcasing McLaren’s rumbling, intimidating vox with lyrics that more or less depict his life (he was well known for brawling and jail time). Bruiser "Legacy of Doom", another high rent track, wears no badge of subtlety or paladin honor within its three+ minutes of treachery. The title cut is one of their best and most known tracks, with its slow to roll start that erupts into an tumultuous, take-no-prisoner gait which growls its way to an unassumingly simple chorus, completing one of metal's finest songs, thrash or not.

Side two is where you’ll find the bulk of McLaren's renown, enraged hawk screams, at least one in each track with those in the furious “Speed Merchants” and irate “Tortured Skull” killing nearby animals. “Instant Death” with its pledging metallic message, the more mid-paced slasher “Cut Throat”, “Iron Hammer” with its downward grind of a chorus, and especially underrated “Thrashdance” are all hostile destructors centering around Dave Carlo’s non-stop rhythmic rippage and, of course, the screamer. "Thrashdance", in what could’ve been a legit thrash anthem, rips and snorts through some great riff and structural changes as well as a chorus marking the track's final exclamation point.

Evil Invaders is a prime Razor lp for new fans to cut their teeth on for both songwriting terror and production grit via Toronto's Phase One Studios. A pretty close second is the more light-hearted, yet still monster thrasher Violent Restitution from '88, which should be reviewed sometime in the next hundred years or so.

I pledge: to keep it alive
I promise: metal will thrive
I swear: myself to the cause
I'll teach: all the metal laws...

(somewhat rewritten 8/5/17)