Various Artists

Just in case you missed the whiff of stale beer in denim and heard the sound of creaking leathers, the Heavy Artillery label is reminding you with all the subtlety of a boot to a poseur's face that thrash is back. Rising up from the American underground (particularly in the Latino community, for some reason),and rearing its head in every corner of the world, we see bands slavishly reliving the glory days of 1980s thrash — not some modernized take on the sound, with clean vocals and Pro-tooled perfection, but the kind of fetid warts-and-all deathclatter that used to vomit forth from our turntables and Walkman headphones. While it may be weird for old farts who were there for thrash's original wave to see it being faithfully recreated by kids who were shitting their diapers to a Raffi tape when HOLY TERROR was first at it, the fact is that many of these new bands are doing a great job of it.

Anyone worth the spikes in their wristband should have already picked up the recently-released MERCILESS DEATH album — these two unreleased tracks kick things off in fine style with their EXODUS-meets-DARK ANGEL style of loud-and-snotty abandon. Las Vegas newcomers AVENGER OF BLOOD imitate the classic off-the-rails German thrash of DESTRUCTION and old KREATOR, right down to the guitars and bass panned hard into one stereo channel or the other, and hoarse, barely-audible rasping vocals. ENFORCER boasts a somewhat more melodic singer, representing the style of mid-'80s metal played by the likes of RAVEN and EXCITER (and which got unfairly shunted to the side later in the decade, as meaner and heavier strains of thrash took over).

Boston one-man project TOXIC HOLOCAUST adds a brimstone whiff of black metal into things, recalling bands like IMPALED NAZARENE and the largely forgotten "retro thrash" movement in late 1990s black metal. HATRED gets a little grim on the vocals, too, while spewing English-as-a-second-language profanities that make SARCOFAGO look literate and cranking out some lo-fi, balls-out Eurothrash mayhem (and has there ever been a better one-word song title, ever, than "Warsexbeer"?). Rounding out the comp is WARBRINGER, an L.A.-based band that seems equally influenced by Germany and the Bay Area when it comes to their thrashin' heroes.

Sure, it could be argued that this much shameless imitation is counterproductive, and that this movement is no more culturally valid than, say, a BEATLES tribute band playing down at your local downtown rib-off. But none of these bands are out to change the world — destroy it, maybe — and the sheer exuberance and drunken abandon they bring to the table here are enough to drown out any high-minded nerd questions. Every one of these six bands brings passion and plenty of attitude to their take on classic thrash, so don't over-analyze it – just crank it up, crack a brew and thrash till your damn neck breaks.