Review Summary: Relentlessly energetic and infectiously aggressive, Razor's "Executioners Song" is one of the more overlooked and entertaining debuts of the 80's Thrash scene.
Razor’s
Executioners Song is, from start to finish, one hell of a ride. Drawing equal parts influence from the likes of King Diamond, Iron Maiden and Motorhead,
Executioners Song delivers an almost unending barrage of riffs and drum grooves that seamlessly pave way into well executed and impeccably timed guitar solos, an impressive effort made only more so by the bands rookie status at the time.
While all the members of Razor contribute a great extent to create an instrumentally cohesive and interesting package, the guitar work takes the forefront and all but steals the show on the majority of the records eleven tracks. The albums opening number, “Take This Torch” is essentially the prime example of the aforementioned statement as the ever-effective Dave Carlo pulls off carpal tunnel inducing riffs during the opening track’s first two minutes, eventually making way into a climactic axe solo that wouldn’t be out of place on any of Judas Priest’s 80’s work. The albums mid track “Distant Thunder” and pre-closer “Timebomb” are highlights of fret board mastery, as the virtous shred would be enough to send even some of the more able guitarist of the generation back to the woodshed.
Razor’s
Executioners Song isn’t to be taken too seriously. The vocals revolve primarily around Heavy Metal tribute and are, for the most part not lacking in the cheese department. Vocalist Stace Mclaren puts on rather impressive performances that never fail to get ones head bobbing to the tight-knit, oftentimes exciting drum beats of Mike Embro. Mclaren is seldom predictable as a vocalist and pulls out all kinds of different tricks, from King Diamond influenced falsetto squeals to Motorhead-esque low end, bass rumbling growls. Razor’s
Executioners Song is simply and unexpectedly a damn good time, and while Razor would eventually churn out more focused, overall consistent records in their twelve year tenure, none of them would match up to
Executioners Song in terms of raw energy and unbridled passion.
It’s simply hard for this reviewer to find fault with a record like this, it’s all that it sets out the be, and while it’s not lacking in terms of drippy, sap ridden lyrics it’s almost hard to blame it for that as 'Executioner's Song" lacks a bad track or dull stretch and contains so much to like.
4.2/5
