Capitalising on the current resurgence of honest-to-goodness thrash and the success of Toxic Holocaust's third album 'An Overdose Of Death', Relapse re-issue their 2003 debut 'Evil Never Dies' and 2005 sophomore release 'Hell On Earth'.

Essentially the one-man thrash machine that is Joel Grind (augmented by hired honchos for touring purposes), Toxic Holocaust embody the raw thrash spirit of the mid-80s, but despite hailing from Portland, Oregon, the Toxic sound really is more akin to the Euro thrash sounds of Destruction, Deathrow and Angel Dust.

Whilst 'Hell On Earth'  is a very solid release with no real duff tracks it does lack any real stand-out tracks and has that "awkward second album" feel to it. 'Evil Never Dies' however is fucking A1. It really is a nostalgia trip and by the time 'Summon The Beast' kicks in mid-way through this opus, I'd kitted myself out in skin-tight bleached jeans, sleeveless Zombie Attack t-shirt and Hi-Tec bumpers and dived off the top of the TV. Nice.

With buzz-saw guitars that would easily have graced 'Haunting The Chapel', many of the tracks on here have become live favourites and rightfully so. Raw, but played with such gusto and "Fuck You" attitude you can't help but love it. If only they could do it as a special release on a TDK SA90 cassette (with hand written inlay) it would be absolutely perfect.

www.myspace.com/toxicholocaust