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This is a re-release, as there have been about a hundred bands called Rampage, and this one has been defunct since 1988. Relics from the Crypts is a sublabel for Dying Victims Productions that unsurprisingly dedicates itself to digging up lost bits of metal history and shining them up for a new release. This Aussie band only existed for about three years and featured some guys who would go on to join Hobbs Angel of Death for the divisive Inheritance album in 1995.

All of that is just to establish the context this album was released in. 1988 was pretty much the crest of the Thrash wave, right before everybody started getting more into Death Metal, and Australia was not known then as a metal source like it is now. This is a pretty primitive effort, and the recording especially is rough, but the songwriting is a lot more involved and progressive than you might expect for a band of this type. Rather than comparisons to Hobbs Angel of Death, I hear a lot more similarities to bands like Anacrusis in the tight but frantic arrangements and the varied vocal approach. This is not really an album that kicks your ass or gets your fist pumping, but it is interesting, as the band is constantly doing unexpected things, all while staying within the Thrash arena. Definitely an album that should have made more waves than it did.