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JOHAN | 2007-07-22 >>>
 ARAKAIN
"Thrash The Trash"
LP (1990 Supraphon)
Thrash Metal Classic
There's nobody else behind
Arakain's debut but Petr Janda of Olympic. It was him, who got
absorbed by heavy metal at the end of the 80's and pursued his
Rockmapa project. He tried to map the metal scene through vinyl
releases and in 1989 the Supraphon shops showed a number of singles
topped by the LP called "Rockmapa 1". Arakain were on top of their
popularity, so they featured with "Proc?" on the LP as well as two
singles. Besides "Proc?" it was "Amadeus", "Ku-Klux-Klan" and "Orion",
which Arakain recorded in Janda's Propast studio in spring 1988 plus
spring 1989. Only "Amadeus" appeared on the LP "Thrash The Trash", so
I will also cover the three remaining numbers.
"Proc?" was a concert hit at the time. Brichta's text is a statement
of an unacknowledged artist who won't hear "good" advice and despite
the adversity around he is determined to play metal. And thrash metal
to be specific, of which "Proc?" is a textbook example - pulsing drums,
yelling guitars, pounding bass and harsh pissed vocals - this accounts
for the attributes of Arakain anno 1988. The single appeared as late
as 1989, in the same year other 10 songs were recorded. Two of them
appeared on a single, the rest on the LP. The single offers two faces
of the band - the moderate one is embodied in "Orion", the harder on
in "Ku-Klux-Klan", which made the band "famous" in the communist press
„proslavil“ in a nonsense article condemning another band Törr.
"Orion" with the space topic in the lyrics is a midtempo heavy metal,
unlike "Ku-Klux-Klan" which is a vivid thrash song with piercing
vocals and a nice antiracist message.
Recorded in May 1989 the album came out almost a year later. Communist
delivery dates were simply too long, so we got hold of the album after
their fall. The front cover is dominated by a six-finger fist, back
contains a stylised photo of the band members, tracklist and a few
lines of bullshit by Josef Vlcek supposedly defining thrash metal. The
definition actually makes me die laughing even today. On the other
hand, the music is still up to date and interesting. Each song a hit.
The initial confession "Thrash The Trash" through the final „Amadeus“
– the record keeps the high standard and is widely recognized as the
best effort of Arakain ever. Some songs still stand out of the high
standard. For me it means the megahits "Šeherezád", "Pán boure", "311.
Perut" and of course "Amadeus". "Šeherezád" features the first ever
oriental inspiration in Czech metal and a lengthy, almost 7 minute
composition offers a range of moods from ballad style to ultrafast
soloing. Storm intro starts the catchy „Pán boure“, celebration of
natural elements, very very fast with a nice second half of the chorus
and another guitar yelling with a number of ideas within four minutes.
The blasting drums make you feel the dark clouds and storm are really
coming. The most serious message is contained in "311. Perut"
dedicated to the memory of Czech pilots participating in the battle of
Britain during WWII. Few might realise this but the song originates in
the totalitarian period which viewed the soldiers of the western front
as enemies of the country, ignored their importance; they became
publicly noticed only after 1989. Arakain did not go beyond the war
scenes. still they deserve respect for the lyrics. Basically, the
lyrics on "Thrash The Trash" appear the most intelligent of all
Arakain albums, no stupidities that they came up with later. The
climax comes with the final "Amadeus", the only song authored by Mirek
Mach. To complete the info on the line-up: Aleš Brichta - vocals,
Jirka Urban - guitar, Zdenek Kub - bassguitar, Daniel Krob - guitar
and Robert Vondrovic - drums. The last two mentioned left for Kreyson
right after the album. Back to „Amadeus“. Heavy and dark riffs, not
unlike e.g. Törr on their "Witchhammer" demo, change into another
drumming blast and guitar wilderness. Aleš switches between two vocal
registers keeping up with the fast thrash tempo and the guitar solo is
one more thing Arakain could contribute with to the textbooks of
thrash metal.
The first big Arakain entry was a success and makes a milestone in the
band's rich discography. We could spot some minor issues, like the
sound which could be more clear, Aleš not being clearly understood at
some points, but generally it's a hit! |
