Saturday Shuffle: Toxic Heart, Lazarus A.D., Sepultura, Blackberry Smoke, ZZ Top

Another Saturday, another shuffle.

“Rebirth,” Lazarus A.D. From the album The Onslaught (2009). I remember that this debut album from Lazarus A.D., an aggressive, Exodus-influenced brand of thrash really excited me. I thought we might finally have a band from the new wave of the style that could play with the originals. The follow-up, sadly, was quite disappointing.

Best of 2011: The year's disappointments

A few of my most highly anticipated releases of this year turned out to be duds, so I'll start my look back at this year with the records that didn't pan out.

White Wizzard, Flying Tigers: This retro-metal act’s 2010 album Over the Top topped my best of list for that year. It was a fun, energetic and campy throwback to the days of my youth. After some turmoil in the band, White Wizzard comes out with a follow-up which shows a lot of musical growth. That’s admirable. Unfortunately, most of the big hooks and unadulterated fun of Over the Top are missing on Flying Tigers. It’s not bad, but it’s also not memorable.

Freebies: Bob Wayne, Lazarus A.D., Social Distortion

Since I'm constantly getting notices about free streams of new records and the occasional free download from bands, labels and publicists, I thought I'd start trying to share them when I can. Everybody likes hearing music for free, right? So here's the first installment.

Streaming the full album of self-made outlaw country artist Bob Wayne's "Outlaw Carnie," due out Tuesday. And come back here for a review of the record in the next few days.

Stream thrashers Lazarus A.D.'s upcoming record "Black Rivers Flow" in its entirety.

Listen to Social Distortion's "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes" in its entirety.

Enjoy, and drop me a note in the comments to let me know if you'd like me to keep it up.

Best of 2009: Honorable mentions

These are the records that came close, but didn't quite make the cut on my final list. A few of them were in the running right up until the end and could almost be interchangeable with the last few on my final list. These are in no particular order. (The links will take you to my original reviews.)

God Forbid, "Earthsblood." With more progressive leanings, God Forbid is about the only band from the metalcore movement that remains in my playlist.

Lazarus A.D., "The Onslaught." This may be the best band to come out of the neo-thrash movement.

Goatwhore, "Carving Out the Eyes of God." I’ve never been a big fan of my hometown boys, but this record impressed me.

Ensiferum, "From Afar." The best folk metal I heard this year outside of Alestorm.

Lacuna Coil, "Shallow Life." Yeah, it’s incredibly poppy and commercial, but I still liked it.

Best of the year so far

I'm running a couple of weeks late on my roundup for the first six months of the year. In these days, of course, that's not the only thing I'm running late on. At any rate, here's a look at my top 10 so far:

1. Heaven and Hell, "The Devil You Know." I'll be very surprised if anything unseats this in the next six months. It's the band's best work since "Heaven and Hell."

2. Alestorm, "Black Sails at Midnight." Just as much fun as the band's debut record and better musically.

3. Amorphis, "Skyforger." This one's fairly fresh, but I think it's their best since "Elegy." It hasn't left my CD player in weeks.

4. Lazarus A.D., "The Onslaught." This is one of the best records that I've heard from the new thrash movement. There's an energy that's lacking in many of the others in the genre.

5. Lacuna Coil, "Shallow Life." It's probably their most poppy record to date, but I like it.

6. God Forbid, "Earthsblood." Another solid outing from one of the most underrated bands out there.

7. Lamb of God, "Wrath." An early favorite for album of the year in my book, this one has slipped down the list. Still a really good record, though.

8. Luna Mortis, "The Absence." The blend of power, progressive and melodic death is interesting and very catchy.

9. Candlemass, "Death Magic Doom." A solid addition to the Candlemass catalog. Robert Lowe continues to impress on vocals.

10. Spheric Universe Experience, "Unreal." Nothing fancy here, but some very well-played prog metal.

Album I'm reserving judgment on for now:
Dream Theater, "Black Clouds and Silver Linings." I wrote a quick, negative review of their last record and ended up liking it after more listens. I'm going to give it some more time before reviewing it.

Disappointments so far:
Queensryche, "American Soldier." At this point, I don't know if I can call a Queensryche album a disappointment since my expectations are low. Still, it was a good concept, and I'd hoped for a better record.

Tim Owens, "Play My Game." (review coming soon) Fairly solid musical outing brought down by weak lyrics and a lack of hooks. Not a horrible record, but not what I was hoping for.

What I'm looking forward to:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra, "Night Castle." Years in the coming, the most recent update was that it should arrive in October. We'll see.

Anthrax, "Worship Music." I'm a fan of John Bush, and I thought "We've Come For You All" ranked among the band's best. They'll have to really impress me with new singer Dan Morgan.

Megadeth, "Endgame." I like what I hear from "Head Crusher" and hope Mustaine and Co. continue the momentum from "United Abominations."

Slayer, "World Painted Blood." It's Slayer, what else is there to say?

Machines of Grace, "Machines of Grace." As a Savatage fan, I've got to check out this project of Zachary Stevens and Jeff Plate. Look for a review soon.

We could also possibly see new records from Ozzy (hope it's better than the last one) and Black Label Society before the year is up.

Review: Lazarus A.D., "The Onslaught"

Having grown up on the first wave of thrash in the 1980s, I've been largely underwhelmed by the offerings from the new thrash movement. In general, they get the speed and technicality right, but they miss those pesky little things like melody, hooks and originality. Enter Lazarus A.D. and the remixed and remastered version of their independent 2007 release "The Onslaught," which serves as their introduction on Metal Blade Records.

This is one of the few records from the neo-thrash movement that will likely stay in my collection. You'll note the difference from the very beginning of the record with the catchy guitar riff that opens "Last Breath." Here's a band that truly learned something from the best that the thrash genre has to offer. You'll notice the slower more pronounced riffage of a band like Metallica in the early going before it morphs into something more in line with Exodus. Fast and heavy, it definitely is, but like the bands of the 1980s, you can also hum the song from start to finish and it will stick with you. Likewise with the infectious main riff of the first single "Thou Shalt Not Fear," which features even more Exodus influence -- oddly the more recent version of the band with Rob Dukes on vocals.

Lazarus A.D. is certainly not averse to the speed side of the equation, as you'll hear on the pounding opening of "Damnation for the Weak" or the second riff of "Forged in Blood," but it's never speed for speed's sake. Even at their fastest, the songs remain memorable and make an impact on the listener. Speed serves the song, not the other way around.

As noted above, the primary influence here is Exodus, and those moments provide some of the high points of the record, like the catchy verse melody of "Who I Really Am." But there are plenty of nods to the other titans of the genre. You'll find some chunky Metallica-style riffs on songs like "Absolute Power," sprinklings of Slayer as in the "Reign in Blood"-ish opening of Rebirth, a little Anthrax-style riffing on "Revolution" and some Dave Mustaine-like lead breaks sprinkled throughout. All in all, it's a nice mix of styles that offers moments of recognition, but never sounds copycat.

Bassist/vocalist Jeff Paulick has a nice thrash voice, somewhere between growling and singing. Thrash vocalists are often overlooked with the instruments being the focal point of the music, but that balance is a hard one to achieve and many singers over the years have come off sounding goofy in trying to pull it off. Musically, Lazarus A.D. delivers exactly what good thrash should. The guitar work of Dan Gapen and Alex Lackner is top-notch and drummer Ryan Shutler provides a solid backbone for their crunching riffs and soaring leads.

It will be interesting to see where they go from here. They've already put themselves at the forefront of the movement because "The Onslaught" absolutely shreds anything released by most of their neo-thrash brethren.

Get "The Onslaught."