CD review, Apr 07. Toxic - World Circus/Think This

Reviewed - 29.04.07


Toxic – World Circus

Forming in 1985 and releasing this debut in 1987, these New Yorkers certainly came up at the right time and in the right place to make a mark on the thrash underground. The heavy metal schooling is apparent throughout this way above average thrash album as the musicianship is everything you want in a tight, concise and inventive thrash band.

Cutting to the chase though, it’ll be Mike Sanders’ vocals that’ll turn a lot of listeners off. Back in the day there was still a falsetto hangover in Metal, probably influenced by the likes of Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, and some bands still employed high pitched singers. However, Sanders takes the biscuit. For me at least, some of his shrieking on this CD, especially on tracks like Pain and Misery actually spoil the music. Fortunately there are also awesome thrash moments like opener (and minor classic from the old Stars On Thrash compilation) Heart Attack. The vocals were remarked upon similarly when this came out first and I guess that’s just what a band is going to have to deal with when taking on someone so… individual.

When the music is left to breath and thrash under it’s own steam without Sanders’ getting too out of hand, we find his lower registers well suited to the Toxic progressive blend of speed metal. It’s a shame that more bands didn’t adopt the urgency and vibrance of the guitar playing on this album, the opening bars to most of the tunes just sound like imminent thrash classics, yet again it’s a shame that the singing sometimes overshadows them. The pace rarely lets up and the interest never dulls through pace changes, guitar interplay and frenetic solos. Musically there are nods to peers such as Kreator, Whiplash, Death Angel and more. Toxic also lean towards the occasional NYC gang vocalled chorus which retains the feel of a solid unit, thrashing as one!

Toxic will please anyone into or researching thrash and I’d suggest listening past the vocals for the joys lying underneath, though I still find it a tough task. So much potential.


Toxic – Think This

Toxic’s 1989 sophomore release finds the band with a new singer in the form of Charles Sabin who wisely adopts a lower register vocal technique than his predecessor, but still frequently stabbing at the high notes. Think This starts off with a typical one minute acoustic type intro before getting into an aggressive mid-paced staccato vibe with off kilter vocal phrasing and more occasional gang vocals on backup. Again there’s an almost euro-thrash feel, reminiscent of Coroner or Midas Touch, with very progressive thrash arrangements. Touches of the ethereal, space-age and avant-garde of VoiVod also permeate.

Track four, There Stood The Fence heralds a thrash ballad of the CD and I can help thinking how much I prefer Metal Church’s Watch The Children Pray and very, very few others of it’s ilk. I must applaud the lyrical themes on this album though as they guided many thrash bands and at the time my new found left leaning political thoughts; social injustice, government corruption, racism… all rather poignant nearly twenty years later where we blindly repeat the same and worse mistakes. Thrash bands such as this never got the respect that HC peers seemed to get for saying much the same thing.

Sonically, Think This nails it’s colours firmly to the progressive thrash mast. Fans of the style will surely enjoy the musical fare on show here and it certainly is a guitar showcase. That said, for thrashers such as myself who enjoy frenetic challenging music but don’t care for 10,000 note guitar solos should find just as much to get our teeth into. I do. Toxic are able to straddle the line between over indulgence and ‘keeping it heavy’. A couple of tracks, such as the rambling Technical Arrogance and too over the top Machine Dream push the boundary a little, but I guess that’s the band’s prerogative. A Zeppelin cover of Out On the Tiles seems somewhat overwrought and unnecessary.

Think This is a far more progressive album than the thrashy debut and fans of bands like Fates Warning and Watchtower, as namechecked on the once again fine CD liner notes, should definitely check this out (just don’t look at the poseur-tastic pictures of the band!!).