Lunacy

Though a late-comer scene to the worldwide thrash metal craze, but 1989 the smaller British scene was beginning to bear some impressive fruit, with the early forerunner acts arising from the hardcore scene such as Onslaught and Broken Bones transitioning into a more mainline thrashing approach, while younger acts such as Slammer, Xentrix and D.A.M. were expanding the scene's repertoire and giving it further credibility. Somewhere in the midst of it all stood the Brighton-born quartet Virus, a band that came into their own prior to the latter group's entry into the fray, but not quite early enough to have risen out of the early 80s punk scene, though they were clearly impacted by it. Sporting a sound that originally had a fair bit in common with the faster and darker approach of Sodom and Kreator, they since developed a reputation as being the U.K.'s answer to trailblazing progressive thrashers Voivod, and much of this owes to the further development of their sound that took place with the release of their third studio LP Lunacy.

Much of what had typified Virus' signature sound on their 1987 debut Pray For War and its 1988 follow up Force Recon has been maintained, though a number of expansive elements have taken shape to complement them. Rhythm guitarist and vocalist Henry Heston still possesses that nasty, Petrozza-like rasp, though it is used more sparingly in favor of a cleaner hardcore yell that is frequently augmented with massive gang choruses. The general tempo tends toward the faster side of the coin, though the mid-paced transitions and slower breakdown moments occur more frequently, resulting in a more elaborate song structure that resembles the more expansive character of Xentrix's For Who's Advantage? and Forbidden's Twisted Into Form, among other late 80s and early 90s offerings that were pushing the duration envelope. But the highly elaborate character of the riff work of both Heston and lead guitarist Coke McFinlay, to speak nothing for the latter's solos, definitely contains some obvious nods to Voivod's Killing Technology and Watchtower's Energetic Disassembly, ditto the far more complex input courtesy of the rhythm section.

From beginning to end, this album exudes a strong sense of ambitiousness that may have been commonplace in the overall thrash scene, but is presented in a far less typical fashion. It's generally stipulated that the first ingredient of surprise is throwing in something familiar to set things up, and true to form, the opening banger "Seeing Is Believing" kicks off with a riff that sounds pretty similar to "Master Of Puppets", though it swiftly modulates into a series of jolting twists and turns, spearheaded by a series of noodling bass lines out of John Hess that give things a strong Blind Illusion flavor. Subsequent crushers such as the title track "Lunacy" and the somewhat quirky, upbeat rocking turned heavy thrashing jam session "My Life" further accentuate the band's progressive tendencies, occasionally wandering off the thrash reservation a bit while still maintaining an underlining thrash and hardcore sense of punch and simplicity. But when all is said and done, the real power of this band's signature sound comes into play when they stick closer to the darker and more extreme side of the thrash coin, and merciless thrashers like "Bad Blood" and "Don't Get Even...!" don't pull any punches.

If there is any downside to this otherwise solid, unsung slab of progressive-tinged, raw thrashing goodness it is that it was the last thing that Virus would have to say on the matter for nearly 20 years. As with most of the dark horses that gave the thrash metal movement of the 80s its versatility, the rise of grunge and the groove metal craze helmed by Pantera led to a severe decline in the style's marketability, though this outfit would ultimately call it quits about a year before the changeover. The subsequent late 2000s reformation that came on the heels of the NWOTM revival of the style would only see McFinlay returning with an otherwise completely different lineup, and while the result was among the better showings for a band born out of the original golden age of the style, they never quite recaptured the magic that was on full display during the latter half of the 80s. Virus will likely never see the same level of exposure that the average North American and German thrash act of the 80s enjoyed, but their back catalog deserves more attentive ears and banging heads, and those who complain that thrash metal is too stylistically limited should be the first in line.