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Another day, another legendary thrash album missing on the site to cover. Viking were (or are, it's unclear if they're still around after their 2016 reunion album) an L.A.-based act who started as Tracer and went on to release two kickass works of somewhat overlooked thrash with their debut Do or Die and their classic Man of Straw, the latter of which became one of my favorite thrash albums back in the day and still holds a place in my hateful heart. From the opening riffs of "White Death," you should understand that this is an album filled with groin kicking torpedoes of thrash that's heavy, angry, catchy, and rather technical without pushing into the realms of true tech thrash, and there's not a single track on here that you could call filler without being dead wrong, emphasis on dead if mainman Ron Eriksen had anything to say about it. Hell, they even manage a cover of Pat Benatar's "Hell is for Children" and give it the proper Viking treatment without coming off as half-assed or ill-fitting, which is way more metal to me than just covering some other metal song instead. I'd say more, but like most truly great thrash, the beauty of it all is that it doesn't rely on gimmicks and just pulverizes your pansy ass into paste with killer riffs, strong musicianship, and all the savagery and aggression of a Viking horde come to pillage and burn your peasant village. If you never gave them a fair shake or simply haven't heard of them until now, it's as good a time as any to dig into a real underground gem by the name of Viking.