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Since I've spent a lot of the year listening to thrash metal I thought I'd take it upon myself to fill in some of the blanks here and spread the word about some albums that didn't get the recognition they deserved. Realm are a prime example of a fucking awesome band gone and almost forgotten in the annals of time. Their brand of thrash being that of the technical variety, and their sound like the amalgamation of thrash and the power/speed metal of the time, they remind quite a bit of Toxik in places and stand as that band's crazy little brother. The similarities are merely superficial, as I feel Realm brought a lot to the table with their fairly original take on the tried and tested scene.

The production is quite excellent, with the bass and vocals really driving through the sound, though never detracting from the drums and guitar work. Their vocalist Mark Antoni was in my opinion one of the finest shriekers of the scene, and he really makes his presence felt, soaring to glass-shattering highs with a stunning command of his range reminiscent of King Diamond's. Guitarists Takis Kinis, and Paul Laganowski spit out scorching riffs and screaming guitar work left right and centre, and the leads absolutely fucking slay. The rhythm section is spot on too, verging on near Atheist territory, as I said earlier the bass is high in the mix and is a big driving force, Steve Post delivered a damn fine performance here. Mike Olsen's stick work is the perfect backbone to the sound and he switches between cool time signatures and awesome footwork.

Suiciety kicks off with "Cain Rose Up (Scream Bloody Murder)" and the band assert their command and authority straight off the bat, with a burst of technicality launching straight into a smoldering riff. Mark Antoni nails some insane notes here and the track would serve as the perfect introduction as to what Realm were all about. From the get go, Realm continue to kick your ass with excellent thrash breaks, riffs straight out of the book Coroner wrote, and aforementioned almost Atheist territory drum and bass work. These guys have no time for wussy ballads, they firmly kick ass with their nearly chaotic cacophony of thrash. It's not until the nine minute title track that there's a slight break from the ferocity, and even then they waste no time with a brief atmospheric intro until the madness ensues again. This track is a display of some of the band's most mindboggling technicality and stands as a truly excellent track that is the icing on the cake. Just after the seven minute mark the track dies down, thunder clashes and they close on a quiet atmospheric note, totally the calm after the storm.

Overall Suiciety stands as an excellent album and a true gem, full of high-octane metal, dripping with energy and good ideas. It's albums like this that I really love about metal, no holds barred fucking screaming guitars, shrieking vocals, awesome riffs. This is the business. It's a crying shame that these guys never put out another album, but fuck I can say that about a lot of bands releasing albums around the same time. I guess the make or break for the listener will be the vocals, and how much technicality they can stomach, however as technical as Realm were they were never pretentious or overbearing, the band just knew how to fucking play! Those kind folk at Metal Mind reissued this in 2006, so there is no reason not to pick this up if you don't already own it. Highly recommended