Poison - Into the Abyss (1993)

   Among the plenty of forgotten treasures of the '80s German thrash metal scene was Poison. Their active period was in the early and mid '80s, and after plenty of demo tapes they disappeared.
   Fortunately their music haven't gone completely, because their "Into the Abyss" demo from '87 came out later as a full lenght album. The dirtiest, raw and primitive '80s thrash sound which this album includes, introduces well the core and the awesome power that was responsible to rise up that scene. It's a masterpiece for sure in it's raw noisy form. Dark, blasphemic and horror based topics, catchy themes, and rehearsal room feeling are the main features of the album. It may not sound much different from the concept, sound and ambitions of the coateneous bands of those times, but for the lovers of old school noise the signs of another approach are clear. Poison's music wasn't based only on fast thrash hammering, they liked to operate with slow themes and melodies too, to create an atmosphere. That made the main view more diverse, created a contrast compared to the intense parts and added a sinister feeling to their music. A real cult album straight from the '80s on the borderline of extreme genres!