UMUR "Veil of Mourn" is the debut full-length studio album by Australian thrash metal act Rampage. The album was released through Quasi Productions in 1988. Rampage formed in 1985 and released a 1986 demo and a 1987 demo, before self-financing the recording of the material for "Veil of Mourn". They weren´t able to find a label to release the material though and opted to set up Quasi Productions themselves for the release and distribution of "Veil of Mourn". So this is truly a DIY release. The original vinyl press was limited to 600 copies and up until now there´s only been one CD reissue through AreaDeath Productions from October 2011. A very obscure release indeed, but also a release which is often mentioned when the subject of early progressive/technical speed/thrash metal gems comes up.

The obscurity of the release is only further enchanced by the fact that the band disbanded shortly after the album release, as a consequence of lead vocalist/guitarist George Mitrov finding Christ and leaving the band. The two remaining members searched in vain for a new frontman but soon decided to give up on continuing Rampage and instead opted to join Hobbs Angel of Death (a band both of them played with on/off for many years onwards). "Veil of Mourn" therefore ended up being the sole album release by Rampage.

Stylistically the music is a raw and relatively aggressive type of speed/thrash metal with a vocalist not completely different sounding in vocal style and delivery from Nasty Ronnie (Nasty Savage). The basis of the instrumental part of the music isn´t that different from the Florida contemporaries either, but Rampage have quite a few progressive and creative ideas in their music, that you don´t find on many other thrash metal releases from that time, and in that respect they are a little closer to the early output of artists like Realm and Target. To my ears Rush has also been a great influence on the songwriting and especially on the guitar playing.

"Veil of Mourn" features a raw and unpolished sound production, but it´s not a murky or powerless sounding production job. In fact Rampage gets a lot out of what is obviously a small recording budget, and if you set your expectations right, the production is actually a pretty great fit for the material. So upon conclusion I understand why some people consider this one a forgotten gem of progressive/technical speed/thrash metal from the 80s, but to my ears there are a few things missing for this album to reach excellence. The songwriting is a bit all over the place, the musicianship is on a high level on all posts, but more time in the studio could maybe have made the recordings a little sharper, and although I did say positive things about the sound production above, that part could have been a little better sounding too. It´s definitely still a great album though and a very interesting early take on the genre, and therefore a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.