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Wow, this is as a pretty neat release. Germany's Darkness (from Essen) were one of those bands that made Teutonic Thrash Metal so popular in the underground Metal scene back in mid and late eighties. Back then, European Thrash Metal sounded more brutal and rawer compared to everything else, especially from the other side of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Most of us Thrash Metal fans are well aware of Darkness albums such as Death Squad (1986) and its follow-up Defenders of Justice, released in 1988. If you were old enough back when Darkness were working hard on their early demos some may even have crossed your path if you were involved with the tape-trading scene. If you never had the opportunity to hear Darkness' pre-album stuff, then worry not because you now have the chance courtesy of High Roller Records.

Darkness four official studio demos have been gathered together for a limited CD and double-vinyl release very fittingly titled Thrash Till Death! In addition to containing some of the finest moments of German Thrash Metal remastered from the original cassette sources, these releases contain very informative and well-written liner notes by Matthias Mader and are loaded with tons of rare old band photos, demo artwork, gig flyers, etc. In other words, the whole package is put together really well making it definitely worth the investment. To me, Darkness sounded like early Tormentor/Kreator and Minotaur in the early days; furious, highly energetic and ready to conquer the world with their frenzied, blistering and raw Thrash Metal. It's really amazing to hear this stuff after nearly three decades and hearing how they helped shape Teutonic Thrash Metal back in the day.

I would not call this compilation an essential, must-buy release BUT if you want to learn more about the roots of early German Thrash Metal then this is a decent tutorial.