SLAUGHTER - LIVE IN 85

This bootleg recording of a show from November 24, 1985 in Toronto is sure to please fans of early extreme Canadian metal. It features a young Slaughter (opening for Corrosion of Conformity and D.R.I.) playing a mix of songs that would appear on 1987 debut Strappado, earlier demo cuts, and their cover of Celtic Frost's “Into The Crypts Of Rays”.

The sound quality is appropriate: very rough around the edges, but also very much in the spirit of the era, songs like “The Curse” and “Incinerator” just racing past, all the levels pushing the red, the youthful spirit coming through louder than any particular riff. I love hearing the almost punk-like “Disintegrator” in this setting, and “Strappado” absolutely slays. Pair with the new Sacrifice Live In 85 LP for an incredible night in, and I'll say here what I said in that review: the sound quality here definitely makes it for the diehards only, but if you've read this far in a review of a record called “Live In 85” by Canada's Slaughter, you are most certainly a diehard.

You know what to expect, and this record delivers on that, fully. Only 500 on vinyl have been pressed, so you know what to do to make sure you get your hands on this glorious piece of Canadian metal history, and by doing so sending the message to the label that, yes, this is a good idea and, yes, we'd certainly like to see more of this sort of thing.