Band:	Toxic Holocaust
Album:	Hell On Earth
Style:	Blackened thrash metal, Crossover thrash metal
Release date:	October 31, 2005
Guest review by:	ScreamingSteelUS

01. Intro
02. Metallic Crucifixion
03. Arise From The Cemetery
04. Send Them To Hell
05. Thrashing Death
06. Burn
07. Death Camp
08. Never Stop The Massacre
09. Time To Die
10. Ready To Fight
11. Hell On Earth

When I first listened to Toxic Holocaust's Hell On Earth, only one phrase came to mind: "lame-ass crap." This album opens mundanely, and wastes 26 minutes trying to decide where to go from there. It breaks no rules, shatters no boundaries, and in the end, leaves no impression. While this is not always a negative quality, Toxic Holocaust falls flat with its sophomore "effort."

At one point, I listened to this album four times in a row, hoping desperately to find something about it that stood out; not one song stuck in my mind. The lyrics are typically brainless thrash cliches ("let's destroy everything and burn it to the ground"), but somehow manage to not be any fun at all. The riffs are afterthoughts, most likely recycled from the forgotten corners of old-school thrashterpieces. Many of the guitar passages would make excellent bridges, or segues into actual songs, but only someone who was desperately strapped for ideas would structure entire musical works around them. Hell On Earth has an annoyingly single-minded approach that could almost betray the fact that it is, in reality, a one-man band. Joel Grind has proven that he can play all of his instruments passably, but this accomplishment is undermined by the two-pronged attack of shoddy production and cringe-worthy vocals.

Hell On Earth has a very thin, uninspired sound that leads me to wonder if it was actually recorded in Grind's basement. That would certainly explain the slightly-muffled drums, but the vocal work is almost inexcusable. I can understand if Grind is not exactly Tim "Ripper" Owens, but he doesn't even shoot for Dave Mustaine. Instead, we are left with faux-black metal retching that sounds like somebody strangling Otep Shamaya. Perhaps this album would be more bearable if Joel could find a decent singer, or at least take that accursed reverb off his voice. Who knows - perhaps a real vocalist lurks underneath those layered effects!

Despite all this criticism, I should stress that Hell On Earth is not a terrible album, it's just? well, it's lame-ass crap. Everything about this album is lacking in some way. The songwriting technique stems from the "all thrash, no music" approach favored by bands like Exodus, but without all the redeeming qualities. Even Illud Divinum Insanus was more interesting; at least that album had never been done before (and hopefully, never will be again). If there is one thing that Toxic Holocaust excels at, it is being generic. This album is unbelievably bland, so if that is how you like your thrash, have at it. In my opinion, Toxic Holocaust could learn a thing or two from fellow modern thrashers such as Gama Bomb or Evile and try to add a little color.