AtomicCrimsonRush When Vengeance Rising split due to the walking out of frontman Roger Martinez, who decided God was not for him and turned to athesim, it was inevitable that a compilation album would surface and this is it. Songs from all four albums are here, perhaps a few omissions that should have been included, but overall this gives a clear indication of the type of music expected on the albums.

It includes the megablasts of killer riffer Warfare, the extreme heaviness of Human Sacrifice and the doomy growling and grindcore of You Will Be Hated. Into the Abyss clocking 8 minutes is a definitve VR track, as is White Throne. I would have liked Help Me and Raegoul too as they were awesome instrumentals with some subliminal whispering, but overall the compilation nails the best of the band in a compact state.

There is nothing new on offer for those with every album but this could be a good starting point for those who have an interest in high powered thrash and extreme vocalisations. Vengeance Rising will always be remembered for their no holds barred approach to thrash metal and they deliver the goods make no mistake.

AtomicCrimsonRush The final album from Christian thrash metallers Vengeance Rising is a vast improvement from the abysmal Destruction Comes. Martinez was joined by some excellent musicians and the tracks on this are excellent overall with a few lulls in the material.

It begins with the instrumental Help Me, with killer riffs and some whispered subliminal vocals, a cry of help from hell. This is a sensational song helped by melodic guitars and wonderful mixing. This album was mastered well in the studio and overcame the problems of the previous release.

The Damnation of Judas and the Salvation of the Thief is a short but effective thrasher, Martinez shouting throughout with attitude.

In Released Upon the Earth Martinez uses a low grindcore metal vocal, a startling change to his usual screechy style. It sounds like black metal in places, very doomy and dark. Bishop of Souls is another highlight that chugs along with blastbeats, power speed drumming and scratchy metal guitar riffs.

Tion is a fun song using various words that end in tion, salvation, celebration, congregation, elation etc.

You Will Be Hated is awesome metal and ends the album with a hardcore highlight. So the band bowed out with a great album. Martinez soon renounced his faith and turned to an atheistic attitude and even released a blasphemous evil album slagging off the Christianity he once believed in, using the Vengeance title, that confused many Christians. But the original band made an impact in the 80s and 90s and will be remembered for albums such as this.

AtomicCrimsonRush The third Vengeance Rising album is their worst due to very poor production and the fact that most of the band had split for greener pastures. Martinez was left to carry the flame and virtually this is a solo album with Roger, the lone soldier playing every instrument on most of the album. He has a bit of help in places but this is a genuine let down in every department. The song writing is poor, the metal sounds way too muffled and high fidelity, the mixing is appalling, and there are too many high speed lead breaks but no variation in the speed picking. Martinez's vocals are way too screechy on this and there are not enough decent tracks to rate it highly. I can hardly even remember the tracks apart from Before The Time, due to the film clip that went with it, hilarious with Martinez in a church preaching and a whole bunch of hairy metal guitarists that are anonymously placed around him.

Thanatos is very doomy and sounds great and the final track is a crawling doomy blaster called Raegoul, Martinez whispers through it and the riffs are awesome. The feel of the song is ambient and dark and it is perhaps the best song on the album.

Overall this was a major disappointment and the band were not even together and it shows. Martinez really struggled at this point to maintain the same ferocity and innovation of the first two albums.

AtomicCrimsonRush Vengeance's 1990 album was the eagerly awaited followup from the debut that knocked many Christians off their perch when they heard the full on thrashing sound and growling vocals. I didnt think Christian bands could sound like Napalm Death or Morbid Angel, but this comes close. It is their best album due to the killer riffs and very memorable melodies, along with scorching lead guitar. Martinez sounds better then the screeching on the first album. His vocals take some getting used to but they are well executed overall.

The riff in Warfare is sensational and really kicks things off with a bang, with very fast drumming and speed picking. Can't Get Out is another highlight that continues the high powered thrash metal. Herod's Violent Death was one of my favourites with a strange lyrical content about Herod's beheading from The Bible. Incidentally each track features a lot of Bible scripture references to support the ideas in the booklet. I always thought they were trying to justify the heaviness of the sound by providing scriptures. Many Christians were peturbed by the style and labelled them as forbidden. Nevertheless the metal on offer here is excellent quality and will not disappoint the thrash metal addict. Listen to the frenetic tempo of The Whipping Post or the wonderful cover of Deep Purple's Space Truck'in, a terrific version.

Into the Abyss is my favourite on the album and it is a crawl metal megablast of killer riffing and a dynamic vocal. I have never forgotten this track. Among the Dead has a different higher pitched vocal and Interruption is simply hilarious parodying the genre. Overall this is an excellent album and comes highly recommended for those who love thrash metal.

AtomicCrimsonRush One of the first albums I purchased during the huge 80s metal explosion, and one of the most controversial in Christian circles due to the torturous front cover and overwhleming thrashy guiatrs and caustic vocals.

Martinez sounds like a man in pain at times particularly in the closing stages of Beheaded that sounds like a man being tortured, screaming and crying out in agony. It always sounded good at Christian camps.

Overall the album made a huge impact as it was the first full on thrash Christian album and really paved the way for thousands of other Christian bands to follow in their steps.

The songs range from brilliant riffing (Burn) to forgettable nonsense (Fill This Place With Blood). It was a full on sound, very heavy guitars and death metal growls throughout. Some very short songs such as Receive Him (6 seconds) (think of Napalm Death's You Suffer), Salvation (16 seconds) and He Is God are fun. The latter being a speed metal freakout of crunching guitars and warpspeed reading of scriptures in less than a minute.

Notable standouts are Human Sacrifice, Burn, Mulligan's Stew, I Love Hating Evil and From The Dead. An album to wake you up for sure. Not a bad start for a powerful metal band that never made it big in the way they should have.