Coming home with a pile of discs, I naturally faced the question: where to start?
A quick listen revealed that AFTER ALL is typical thrash, a genre I don't have particularly strong feelings for. So the disc was promptly shelved, as there were tastier things to dig into.
But when the turn finally came for The Vermin Breed, things took a different turn. A more attentive listen revealed that the album is quite good indeed. And more than that — in places it's actually very good. Many tracks on this disc had me headbanging — I was surprised myself.
Overall, it's fairly straightforward and intense thrash-power. You can feel the influence of many bands in this vein. But I have to say, at times I couldn't shake the feeling of deja vu — I'd heard something similar from ICED EARTH during the Dark Saga period (though that's just my impression). In reality, AFTER ALL haven't said anything new with this disc — you won't find anything supernatural here. And often enough, fairly mediocre material is saved by moves long tested by other bands. Though it must be acknowledged that compared to the aforementioned American brigade, AFTER ALL have a much larger thrash component.
A decent album, but in my understanding this kind of music should be more edgy — the guitar solos could be sharper, the vocals more aggressive, and it would have been a real gem.