Back in the 80s the German Thrash Metal scene was as strong if not stronger than their American counterpart. And wheres the Americans were more melodic except a few cases, the Germans were always more aggressive. A few days ago Gary Holt from SLAYER / EXODUS was telling the press not to forget the Germans when talking about the “Big 4”. Wise words. Here we have a very young band with their debut album that as many other bands in the day, was also released by Noise / Combat Records. Formerly known as SAMHAIN they changed the name to avoid confusion with some other rockers and went for DEATHROW. Interesting thing is that the album was released with two different covers and album titles, although the same music. I do in-fact like both covers, but yes, in retrospect the title of “Satan’s Gift” and the Puma-like character were more childish than evil. Now, it was cleared by the band that the real title was “Riders Of Doom” (and the cover art was also very good) and the other one was chosen and done by the label in the USA. Well, cleared that… on to the music. One can absolutely hear that this is a new and young band, still trying to find their identity. They were influenced a lot by SLAYER, VENOM and IRON MAIDEN and it showed in the music. Here they tried to play all at maximum speed, and one can hear the musical limitations of the band, yet it has a charm of its own. They have many ideas and some very good riffs with, at times, some technical twists. Vocally speaking bass player Milo was doing his job, he has a similar Tom Araya – esque approach and fits quite good in the music, although one can hear that it was more limited than the now metallic grandpa. Yes, SLAYER in the early days is also quite a way to describe them, although they do have a sound of their own. And although the production was a bit muddy at times, it was perfect for what it was meant to be. This edition comes remastered, if maybe sounding a but less muddy. The only other official version on CD done a few years back was a bit too loud and compressed. This issue seems to have those issues done the right way. It also has their demos as bonus tracks when they were still named SAMHAIN, although same songs as on the album. To be honest it is hard to understand how some of these bands were signed with some of the demos they had back then, as they sounded very raw and just above the rehearsal sound quality, so I guess that also some live shows and a good ear was needed to realize the potential the bands had. A nice double vinyl edition is also done so it is now time to get this album that is as good as any German Thrash from the 80s. More info at: https://deathrowmetal.bandcamp.com, www.noiserecords.net