Protector - Urm the Mad (1989)

Urm the Mad was the first Protector album I managed to come across out in the wild, and I recall being thrown off a little at the beginning moment of "Capitascism". A horror synth transmutes into a plodding hard rock riff, which was way less intense than I was expecting. That soon changes as they roll out some thicker, darker rhythms and a blast beat, or whatever the equivalent of a blast beat was for 1989 in what was still largely a thrash metal band. We were off to the races, but I certainly struggled at being impressed with most of this at first. This is absolutely where the death metal vocals become dominant, which sounded great over the simpler neck-jerking thrash rhythms; Martin just had this brutal sustain which created an impact with ever lyric he barked out, but the music itself isn't anywhere near what a Death or Pestilence was up to at the same time, and it's still written in a ballistic mesh of Teutonic, West Coast and the Arizona-like thrash I mentioned I heard on parts of Golem.

The dynamics remain intact, as the band will shift between a plodding, almost thrash/doom vibe in a tune like "Nothing Has Changed" with its swaying rhythm and slightly spongy distortion circa Hellhammer, to the more mid-paced rhythms which remind me more of Sacred Reich, Exorcist or Hallows Eve, and then lastly the faster barrages where the riffs can almost resemble a bit of vintage grindcore. Not a lot of riffs stand out individually, even for 1989 they didn't sound too unique, and there still exists some traces of their earliest work where they let the end of riffs ring out before transitioning into a burst or vice versa. On the other, the drumming is damn tight, with a speed and intensity to the blasts that was somewhat rare for its day, and the leads are really good, whether they're more melodic and structured or just being used as wild sound effects to create a windy hostility that blows across all the workmanlike rhythm guitars. I felt the bass on this record didn't stand out as much as Golem, it's audible and functional but doesn't poke out as much as it did there.

There's also another throwaway short track, the noisy grind explosion of "Molotow Cocktail" which is less than a minute, just some chaos that doesn't wrap up the disc in any memorable or meaningful way. So my first impressions of Protector weren't the highest accolades. The cover art was cool, the logo stood out to me from other thrash or early death metal acts, the title is awesome (again with that dark fantastical vibe), the vocals were gruesome enough to warrant the death/thrash tag, and there's a purity and atmosphere to the material which is synonymous with its era. Over the years, I've come to appreciate it for what it was, but truth be told it's the record I'm least likely to revisit of their earlier 1987-1993 run and it's just eviscerated by so many of the other beasts of '89 like Consuming Impulse, Altars of Madness, Leave Scars, Realm of Chaos, etc. If you love the production and construction of extreme metal at the tail end of the 80s, maybe a prelude to the style Sodom would explore on Tapping the Vein, then this one's worth a listen for sure.

Verdict: Win [7/10] (The cloven one will rule)

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