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CD/DVD Releases: More Metal Mind May-- Release News

Posted on Monday, September 03 @ 21:05:41 UTC by nightowl

"Metal Mind Productions presents first ever CD release of the album from 1985 Burning At The Speed Of Light by Thrasher - one of the most intriguing musical projects ever to emerge on the 80's metal scene. Gathering musicians from a whole catalogue of rock and metal genres, this one-album collaboration delivers a handful of stylistically variegated and brilliantly composed songs, each showcasing the most unique features of the past metal era. It's a collection of cleverly arranged hits, each song revealing different themes and talents. This classic gem from Music For Nations archives in a new digipak edition, limited to numerated 2000 copies, will be available on 10th September 2007 via Metal Mind Productions."



Tracklist: "Hot And Heavy," "Ride The Viper," "Widowmaker," "Black Lace And Leather," "She Likes It Rough," "Slipping Away," "Burning At The Speed Of Light," "Bad Boys," "Never Say Die."

"Bio: Thrasher is perhaps one of the most intriguing musical projects ever to emerge on the 80's metal scene. Gathering musicians from a whole catalogue of rock and metal genres, this one-album collaboration delivers a handful of stylistically variegated and brilliantly composed songs, each showcasing the most unique features of the past metal era. The idea for Burning At The Speed Of Light came out from Carl Canedy in the period between 1982 and '83. Canedy, a well-known producer (who later on worked with such bands as Anthrax, Overkill and Exciter) and drummer (he played with an 80's metal act The Rods and did the drums on Manowar's first demo) wanted to form an ultimate coalition of New York's finest and most acclaimed musicians and vocalists to take part in his musical vision.

"After teaming up with guitarist Andy 'Duck' MacDonald (known from bands like Blue Cheer, Bible Black, Playground, Lone Ranger, KSB, Avigal and? The Rods, where he first met Carl), Canedy begun intensively composing the songs for his dream-release. By 1984 the duo had a ready material consisting of nine dazzling tracks and begun looking for the appropriate people to participate in the projects. As soon as the final line-up was established, the project kicked off and on June '84 the recording begun.

"Released in January 1985 by Music For Nations, Thrasher's Burning At The Speed Of Light introduced a collection of cleverly arranged hits, each song revealing different themes and talents. The opening track, 'Hot And Heavy,' kicks in with a dynamic hard rock feel, with the skillful bass performance by Kenny Aaronson (ex-Dust) and energetic vocals by Brad Sinsel (ex-TKO, War Babies). Next is 'Ride The Viper,' another hard rock representative (with a structure similar to Dio's 'Holy Diver'), featuring Canedy's and MacDonald's colleagues from The Rods - Gary Bordonaro on bass and Rick Caudle (who also performed with The Rods) on vocals. The third track, 'Widowmaker' is far more vicious than the two hard rock openers - again with Sinsel on vocals, the song featured a stunning finger tapped solo by Duck and speedy bass by Billy Sheehan (who later on played with a truly impressive number of bands and performers, including David Lee Roth, Derek Sherinian, Explorers Club, Glenn Hughes, Glenn Tipton, Jordan Rudess, Mr. Big, Planet X, Steve Vai and Talas). The following song, 'Black Lace And Leather' is truly one of the highlights of the album. Kept in a pseudo-blues stylistics, the track featured two drummers - Canedy and Gary Driscoll, known from Jack Starr and Rainbow (sadly, he died in 1987, murdered in his own flat), two bass players - Mars Cowling (Pat Travers Band, ex-The Flying Hat Band) and Ned Meloni, as well as a vocal duo consisting of Rick Caudle and Maryann Scandiffio (ex-Blacklace). These four tracks closed the first side of the vinyl edition.

"The following five songs were a lot heavier and faster than the previous ones. Starting off with an edgy 'She Likes It Rough' with James Rivera (ex-Flotsam and Jetsam, Chaotic Order, Killing Machine) on vocals, the album took a turn into more thrash-oriented regions, proving the band's relevant name. 'Slipping Away' continues the strong approach, while the following title track easily becomes the strongest point of the whole project, with Dan Beehler's (ex-Exciter) vocals (accompanied in the middle section by Kerry Wittig) and multiple solos by Duck, Kim Simmonds (Savoy Brown), Dan Spitz (Anthrax, ex-Overkill) and Jack Starr (Burning Starr, Virgin Steele). The next song featured Rhett Forrester on vocals (who later on sang in bands such as Masi, Riot, Gogbone and Black Symphony, unfortunately died in a shooting in 1994). The final and closing track, 'Never Say Die' was a perfect completion of the entire project, with vocal performances by almost all singers contributed to Thrasher. Burning At The Speed Of Light to this day remains a valuable conglomeration of the 80's metal stylistics and ideas, bringing a collection of songs worth to acknowledge. What is more, this album is for the first time ever released in a CD format, previously being almost impossible to obtain."

Posted in Album Release News