Believer were clearly pretty skilled by this point, but were still quite shackled to the Thrash tradition, and whilst you’re rarely likely to hear Thrash better-played than this, you can’t help but wish that the band would transcend the genre and head off into spacey progsville once in a while.Īs seen from the artwork, however, Believer were clearly setting their sight on bigger things than mere Thrash Metal, and there are several moments on Sanity Obscure where this becomes obvious. It’s still a great ride, however, and sets up the less single-minded Idols Of Ignorance wonderfully. The likes of Nonpoint are tighter than Chuck Billy in a pothole, and twist and turn wonderfully without ever actually taking you anywhere. On first listens, the tracks do sound very similar indeed, individual only by the acoustic intros and whatnot that marks most of the experimentation, but once you’re actually listening to the technical bursts of riffing that come from nowhere it’s hard not to be impressed. What matters, though, is that you quickly get used to him and can concentrate on the rather excellent guitar work. well, Daffy Duck tone, and you’re nearly there.

Imagine Dave Mustaine with a higher voice and less of a.

It’s a dense, heavy listen – the guitars are churning slabs with just enough melody to keep this from becoming Sludge Metal, and whilst Bachman’s voice has improved, sounding like a sort of nasal, older Kelly Shaefer here, he’s still perched right on top of that line between ‘individual’ and ‘odd’.

Taking a huge step forwards with their second album, Christian Thrashers Believer began to live up to their potential here.

Believer sanity obscure rar