For any band to have written Thrash Metal of this caliber in 1990, as Death Metal was very nearly in full swing, is a startling achievement. DEMOLITION HAMMER are punishing, to say the least. This debut record of theirs easily schools a large percentage of the Thrash Metal of the time. It’s not terribly difficult to paint a general picture of DEMOLITION HAMMER’s music, for it is distinctly American. The band has cited SLAYER as an influence in the past, but the reality of it is that SLAYER are an influence to nearly every other band in existence, old and new, so using that as a viable angle of analysis is a bit droll. DEMOLITION HAMMER therefore, in addition to being SLAYER fans, were clearly admirers of their contemporaries like MALEVOLENT CREATION and SEPULTURA. The way each riff punishingly rolls around as if swung on a spiked flail are very characteristic of not only the two aforementioned bands, but of much of the Floridian scene as a whole. With such influences, the band’s status as a Thrash Metal outfit are somewhat suspect. Like DARK ANGEL, the vocal work is very much a product of earlier years in sharp contrast to the music, which largely belongs to the Death Metal world, although there are sections that were written with Thrash in mind, certainly. Whatever DEMOLITION HAMMER were, it was intense. This re-release features five additional live tracks (‘Hydrophobia’, ‘Infectious Hospital Waste’, ‘.44 Caliber Brain Surgery’, ‘Neanderthal’ and ‘Crippling Velocity’). www.myspace.com/skullfracturingnecrology