WRATHCHILD AMERICA-climbing the walls-SOUL'S AT ZERO

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REVIEWS-

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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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BIOGRAPHIES-

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Wrathchild America were a competent but rather unoriginal thrash metal quartet featuring vocalist / bassist Brad Divens, guitarist Jay Abbene, guitarist Terry Carter and drummer Shannon Larkin. Released in 1989, the group's first album Climbin' the Walls caught the tail-end of the thrash metal boom, and despite some positive reviews, never found a large audience. Dropped by Atlantic Records soon after the release of the subsequent 3-D, the band temporarily changed their name to Souls at Zero before disbanding for good. Drummer Larkin found a heavy metal afterlife of sorts with goofball metalheads Ugly Kid Joe.

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