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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"I ain't got no money, and that ain't funny.", January 7, 2007
Along with Testament, Overkill, King's X, and a whole slew of other great bands, Wrathchild America had the misfortune of being "lost in the Atlantic". What that means is that they were signed to Atlantic records, un(der)promoted by the label, then unceremoniously dropped shortly afterward. What made W.A. stand out from their thrash metal brethren was that they were much bluesier. You could tell that from just listening to bassist/vocalist Brad Divens' whiskey drenched vocals. But that wasn't all. There were also elements of jazz and classical musical that could be heard. This was a band that should have been as famous as Metallica. I'm not exaggerating.
Formed in the early 1980s by guitarists Jay Abbene and Terry Carter, the band named themselves Wrathchild after the classic Iron Maiden song. A glam rock group from England threatened the American Wrathchild with legal action, causing the band to add "America" to their name. Later, they would add to their ranks Divens and an extremely gifted young drummer named Shannon Larkin, who is currently drumming for Godsmack. Nothing against the English (being almost half-English myself), but I think we had the better Wrathchild.
_Climbin' the Walls_ from 1989 is one of thrash metal's unsung treasures. The gamut is ran from the AC/DC meets Maiden title track to pure thrash ("Hell's Gates") to a very technical instrumental ("Hernia") to the creepy atmosphere of "London After Midinght" to a fine Pink Floyd cover ("Time") and to our final stop, the NWOBHM inspired "Day of the Thunder" - complete with tag team guitar solos. When so many of their fellow thrash bands tried to play as fast as possible, W.A. focused on variety and just plain good songwriting. Every song here is a winner.
W.A. would go on to release the slightly weaker but still very much worthy _3-D_ in 1991. That album didn't go over too well either. Then they would change their name to Souls at Zero while adopting more of an Alice in Chains-styled sound, while keeping the same members. You guessed it, that went over like a fart in a submarine too. Then they would finally call it a day some time in the mid-1990s.
Nowadays, both albums from W.A. are not easy to find since they have been out of print for at least fifteen years. But don't give up, thrash bands from yesteryear are rereleasing their albums when one least expects. I am confident that W.A.'s will once again see the light of day.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another "What happened to these guys?" album..., October 14, 2003
Wow. These guys rank up there with some of the best metal bands of all time, but did they ever get noticed at all? Not really. This is certainly a Lost Treasure pick.Amazon.com doesn't even have the songs listed on this album, so here they are: Climbin' The Walls
Hell's Gates
No Deposit, No Return
Hernia (*Instrumental*)
London After Midnight
Candy From A Madman
Silent Darkness (Smothered Life)
Time (*Pink Floyd cover*)
Day Of The Thunder *my comments in asterisks* They sing about everything from getting drunk (No Deposit, No Return), Demon's (Hell's Gates), Vampires (London After Midnight), madmen (Candy From a Madman), to being buried alive (Silent Darkness). They play fast, heavy, and slightly-melodic, with great lyrics, and they bring it full-force with this album. They were a great band that just didn't make it big enough to get noticed and I wonder if they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is definitely a lost treasure. I won't go into details about each song, but every song on here is a masterpiece that is sure to please anyone who likes their music heavy but intelligible. Even though they were an '80s metal band, they sounded more like '90s. (Just for clarification, '80s bands like Motley Crue, Dokken, and Firehouse were Pop Metal at best...Wrathchild America had more of an Iron Maiden or Metallica sound than that fluff.) Their only other album I ever had (entitled "3-D") sucked, and I wondered if it was even the same band. And just as an aside: I heard they changed their name and went on to become known as 'Souls At Zero', but I haven't had the chance to check them out yet...
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Kick Butt !!!!, November 18, 2004
I must totally agree with the preceeding reveiw,,, this album kicks A !! I remember when this band toured PA.... no-one ever heard of them, but if i played their cover of Pink Floyds "Time", they wanted to know the band name and this album immediately!!! its a great, fast paced metal album. A must have!
Their 2nd album ( 3D )is not as ( shall i say ) "rythmic". but is very good, especially the instrumental. these guys were tight! If your a "metal head" like me you will appreciate what these guys did for their time.
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