Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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Formed in Moscow, Russia, in 1985, Shah comprise Antonio Garcia (vocals, guitar), Anatoly Krupnov (bass) and Andrei Sazanov (drums). The group were pioneers of thrash metal in the USSR and attracted the attention of Velerie Gaina, guitarist with fellow Soviet band, Kruiz. Gaina helped Shah record their first demo, which he then took to the West and German independent label Atom H Records. Suitably impressed, the label signed the band, resulting in a debut collection, Beware, which betrayed the obvious influence of Anthrax. Bearing in mind the cultural and political hurdles the band had to overcome, it was a considerable achievement. In 1990 Shah played at the Public Against Violence Festival in Ostava, Czechoslovakia, along with German melodic rockers Bonfire and UK thrash metal band Talion, and were a huge success. They continue to perform regularly and extensively in their own country.

~ AMG

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Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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Amazing! Every single bit of this album is amazing. It never lets the ball drop drop on here. Although no track here is under five minutes (except for the last rappy joke track), I’m sure I’ll never find a soul to call this album “boring” or “tiresome”. It’s forty-two minutes of pure entertaining, catchy thrash.

The rhythm guitar is extremely effective in trapping the listener to the album. It oozes with a multitude of riffs with some complexity, originality and above of all, memorability. They are almost always fast and somehow they remind me “Night of Stormrider”, maybe because of the use of triplets and palm muting. The riffwork has no influences of other metal genres (except for a bit of speed metal). At 1989 it was starting to be commonplace to add DM influences to the riffwork but this album has nothing of it, just pure speed/thrash riffage with melodic influences to mix things up. There are very few midpaced moments (they are mostly on the seventh track, “Threshold of Pain”, which is midtempo till ~6:00 where the speed increases).

I also like the lead guitar work a lot. Lots of very well executed solos, be it fast shredding or melody-drenched leads. It’s a big responsible for the album’s sheer catchiness. Lots of great melodic lines, but my favorite moments are “Threshold of Pain” after ~6:00 and the INCREDIBLE intro for “Bloodbrothers”, with its nice atmosphere. “Beware”’s solo is indeed great, just like the others.

The drums give the album in the right speed. It has the lowest speed is at ~150 bpm, getting slightly faster. They are very well played, with the double bass being the main weapon. Fills are also abundant. The bass is also present, sometimes playing counterpart licks and even some soloing in one or two tracks.

Has also good production, with the instruments pretty well mixed and a good rhythm guitar tone. The snare and double bass have also nice sound. The cymbals and hi-hats are not over-prominent. Sometimes the vocals soar over the instruments but it’s rare. There’s an obvious “old-school” feel to this album, mainly because of the production.

The album is straight, consistent (maybe a little homogeneous in the structure). Every song here deserves to be listened with attention. Very tight, catchy and enjoyable. Deserves its place under the sun.

by Milo, metal-archives.com

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Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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Shah: Discography (1987 - 1994)

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