Realm - Suiciety (1990)

Realm's debut Endless War remains one of my favorite US tech speed/thrash metal albums of all time, a beautiful balance of intense, aggressive and innovative melodic riffing and the shrill siren of Mark Antoni's psychotic wave-like voice. It would easily make my short list of best all-time US thrash; every song was brilliant.

It's followup Suiciety follows a very similar style and perhaps becomes even more creative with its dynamic thrash. For instance, you heard few bands of this sort making such intense use of the bass, yet Steve Post is all over this thing, playfully plodding below the twisting and frantic guitars. The disjointed intro "Rise" leads into the excellent "Cain Rose Up", with Antoni's voice going ballistic. It's either going to turn you off completely or make you fall in love and worship everything this band has ever done. "Fragile Earth" is another excellent track with some great mute picking and thundering bass. "Energetic Discontent" could perfectly sum up the band's entire style, and I love those solos in the beginning. "Gateway" weaves a nice complex riffing structure with some experimentation and guitar effects. "Final Solution" is just as fun as anything on the debut. Also of note is the excellent and lengthy title track, which you might consider an epic of technical Milwaukee thrash! There is also "Dick" which...well it's a little silly but not for lack of good music.

The mix is pretty interesting here because the vocals and bass really dominate. The drums and guitars are clear as day though, it's just that they don't take any priority. The musicianship is superb as it always had been with this band. The vocals are almost as wild and rangy as King Diamond himself, without aping the lord of darkness. Realm truly had an original take on this style and it's a complete fucking shame they didn't get more recognition than they did. In the end I don't think Suiciety was quite the masterpiece Endless War was, but it's still a damn fine followup and if you love the first album you will also find a lot to enjoy with this.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (deviants can be detected, curiosity condemned by death)

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