Germany's Darkness has been around under a few different names since the mid-80s, but has been wholly dedicated to thrash metal the entire time. Death Squad Chronicles is their seventh album and includes a couple of new songs plus re-recordings of several songs from early in the band's discography. When I reviewed First Class Violence, I likened it to other Germanic Thrash bands, but this material is more melodic with respect to the songwriting, closer to early Metallica, Testament and other San Francisco acts. That makes sense considering the early nature of the material and the influence those bands had on the scene emerging in Germany at that time. The vocals are still on the harsher, European end of the spectrum and the combination works quite well. It might not be all that original, but the songwriting is uniformly good, and the playing is tight, sharp and energetic, so that's not a problem. Grab a copy of Death Squad Chronicles and add some quality old school thrash metal to your collection.