“Thrashin Blues” finally available again, Thrash Metal with a dirty blues edge!
Violent Playground is one of the many Thrash Metal bands that ended up forgotten without ever having serious opportunities; the fact is that they deserved much more than their peers. In 1988, they were able to create an unparalleled blend of Thrash Metal, Hardrock and Blues that did not open the doors to fame for them at all.
These five guys lived their musical experience exclusively within the underground scene for a relatively short time (about three years), without any chance to emerge in the slightest (at least to achieve the popularity of groups like Tankard, Razor, and so on). For this series of reasons, the group is one of the most ignored within its environment. And their “Thrashin Blues” has become a collector’s item. The only link Violent Playground has with the world outside the underground is the album cover: created by the famous Ed Repka, the same who drew for Megadeth, Death, Toxik, Vio-lence, and others.
It’s no coincidence that they deserved more than many other bands of the time: their only album is a true masterpiece. Frankly, we do not find a single excessive derivation, a single plagiarized note; you can hardly even hear the influences from the usual genre epigones, but the sound is typically thrash, accompanied by contamination ranging from Blues to Classic Rock. The production isn’t too raw for a record like this, made of captivating riffs and solos that haven’t been heard since the days of “Kill ‘Em All”. The originality of the product is evident from the very first spectacular seconds of the title track.
Unable to repeat themselves and strained by the harsh failure of the album, the Playground disbanded shortly after, and with them, that kind of explosive mix of “blues fusion” came to an end.
Hammerheart
