Ruthless Horde was a short-lived thrash metal band from the wretched city of Detroit. They formed in 1987 and released only two demos before breaking up at the beginning of the 90s. This is their first demo, a simple self-titled affair. Let's listen.
The production is pretty raw, but it's not atrocious by any means. If you let your ears adjust, they can make out all the instruments just fine. The music was what really blew me away. The thrash metal these guys play is really aggressive, sounding quite similar to what was popular in Germany at that time. There's also a bit of Slayer in there. At certain points, the music sounds so aggressive, it almost sounds like death metal.
The drums mainly consist of simple yet fast and violent blast beats. They still make sure to throw in a few fills to keep things interesting, as well as a few mid-paced beats that help give the audience a chance to catch their breath. The bass is really prominent in the mix, quite surprising given that this is a demo. They mainly follow the guitars, but at certain points, they're given a chance to stand on their own and show off some great tricks.
The vocalist is really versatile. He mainly uses a rough shout that sounds similar to Tom Araya, but he also performs a rasp similar to Mille Petrozza. There are also times when he sings high and he ends up sounding like Bobby Ellsworth. What really threw me off was the song “Forgotten Dead”. He performs these clean vocals that harken back to metal's early days. Personally, I thought they were out of place, but they're still well-performed.
Best of all were the guitars. The riffs are fast, crunchy, well-crafted, and totally infectious. Not only can they sound really nasty, they can also sound beautiful, such as those at the beginning of “Demonic Majesties”. The riffs they play there are rather sad and have a cavernoush reverb effect. They almost sound like black metal. They'll even get all acoustic on your ass with the song “Shadows Of Death”. Oh, and they also make sure to play plenty of wicked solos.
This demo was awesome. I especially loved the vocal performance. He's able to pull off so many styles with ease. I also loved the guitars. Mark Jones was a fucking pro.
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