Rating: 8.1

Country: Germany

Release Date: 2005

Track list:
1. Kain And Abel
2. Omnipresent Aggression
3. The Mercenary
4. Apocalyptic Revelations
5. Capitascism
6. Sliced, Hacked and Grinded
7. Nothing Has Changed
8. The Most Repugnant- Antagonist Of Life
9. Quasimodo
10. Urm The Mad
11. Decadence
12. Atrocities
13. Molotow Cocktail
14. Intro/ Humanized Leviathan
15. Subordinate
16. Mortal Passion
17. Kain And Abel (Extended Version)

Band Website: Protector

Protector - Ominous Message of Brutality

Michael Hasse- Drums
Martin Missy- Vocals
Hansi Muller- Guitars
Ede Belichmeier- Bass
Oliver Wiebel- Vocals

Depending on your perspective, Protector's obscurity is either wholly deserved, or an outright tragedy. Along with the likes of Vectom, Assassin, Accuser, Darkness, Poison, Baphomet, Exumer, Violent Force, Deathrow, Holy Moses, Living Death and Minotaur, Protector inhabited the nether realm of German thrash, widely considered to be among the second-tier bands destined to be outshadowed by the unholy trinity of Destruction, Sodom and Kreator, as well as the burgeoning, more melodic variety of speed championed by Iron Angel, Angel Dust, Helloween and Grave Digger. I happen to hold the opinion that Protector exhibited all the traits that have enthroned the “unholy trinity” as staples in every self-respecting metalheads' collection, and we all have Ola of I Hate Records to thank for his unwavering faith in the legacy of Protector, for his lovingly-compiled reissues of all things Protector have truly been a Satan-send for all worshippers of Teutonic thrash. This particular collection compiles a string of out-of-print material, a live show recorded at Braunschweig in 1989, as well as Protector's last two efforts before their '90s decline, the 'Urm The Mad' LP and 'Leviathan's Desire' MLP.

What strikes one upon first listen is the clarity of the live show- the live recording is crisp and cleanly-defined, free from the static, thin guitars and garbage receptacle percussion of much live material. Instead, guitars and bass are clearly separable, each riff and note given adequate distinction in the mix. Great song selection here, too, as we are treated to a spirited rendition of “Kain and Abel”, “Omnipresent Aggression” off the refined 'Golem' LP (fuck me if Oliver doesn't sound almost like Quorthon on this one, total blackened RAWNESS!), “The Mercenary” off the ripped-to-the-tits, unsparingly LETHAL 'Misanthropy' (still the most brutal Protector release), “Apocalyptic Revelations”, once again off 'Golem', a more pronounced, elaborately cohered slab of vitriol that kicks your teeth in and takes a piss on your bleeding facial cavity. They did well to include the two most memorable, enduring tracks on 'Golem' here, a great choice indeed!

Fast forward to the 'Urm The Mad' LP, and you find yourself greeted with, unquestionably, the most elegantly expressed and focused Protector release to date. Being one of the most chaotic and vociferously violent bands in German history, this has great significance- this is very far removed from the reckless death/thrash riff-slinging of 'Misanthropy', a logical continuation of the more pronounced, elaborate ideas presented within 'Golem', which certainly sought to provide more form and song-based concepts to the blurred bludgeon of 'Misanthropy'. If 'Golem' can be seen as the 'Pleasure To Kill' to 'Misanthropy's 'Endless Pain', then 'Urm The Mad' is certainly Protector's 'Terrible Certainty', though in truth the record is not always as consistently captivating as 'Terrible Certainty'. “Sliced, Hacked and Grinded” bursts out the gate with bare-toothed menace, opening with a mid-paced, almost 'Beneath The Remains'-esque passage that gains momentum and spirals into a cavernous vortex of repetitious, violently expressed riffing, ornamented with Martin Missy's hoarse Marc-Grewe-after-a-carton-of-Camels vocal stylings. Simply constructed, tugging, terse riffing here is a real triumph, the band expressing the same groove via varying tempos to achieve an interesting effect. “Nothing Has Changed”, meanwhile, reflects a band that has perhaps listened to 'Triumph Of Death' a tad too much for their own good, a droning, lurching, crawling affair that is wholly removed from the rabid ferocity that had defined Protector up to this point. There's nothing inherently bad about this number, it's just slightly tedious, and a strange musical anomaly on the record.

“The Most Repugnant…” picks up the pace slightly, once again highlighting the band's panache/finesse for acute, sharpened grooves that adapt themselves effortlessly to deft changes in tempo. The riff-o-rama approach so favored in the past has been abandoned for a far more streamlined, but no less lethal direction where riffs are fleshed out and emphasized instead of flung about mindlessly, where the band fully explores and exploits the capacity and content of each. “Quasimodo” really emphasizes this, oozing with sneering and snarling intent before evolving into a bestial blitzkrieg of tumbling d-beat blasts and chaotic riffing, only to collapse into an AWESOMEEEEEEEE thrash break worthy of “Toxic Trace” and “Christ Passion” 02:02 through the track. FUCK! The title track is, of course, a winner, all 'Endless Pain'/'Obsessed By Cruelty'-esque messiness interspersed with bursts of more controlled frenzy that, again, recalls Sepultura from 'Schizophrenia' onwards.

Having never heard “Humanized Leviathan” before, I was anxious to get to this part of the disc, and I can report, with assured confidence, that all fanatics of kataklymsik kraut Karnage will be VERY satisfied with the fare on offer here. The production, while rather bass-heavy, bizarre (the drum production in particular is a tad off-putting) and drenched in effects (listen to that guitar tone in the intro, and then the incisive, slashing guitar sound on the opening track!), somehow works perfectly with the seering, seething, WHITE-HOT death/thrash presented here- 02:22 through “Humanized Leviathan”….BANG YOUR FUCKING HEAD, PEON!!! WUAHOEUFNEOUIFNEOINAOISNOISNFOINSFOIN!

It is clear throughout the EP that the demonic strains of one Oliver Wiebel's are far more pleasing to mine ears than that of Martin Missy. Astounding range exhibited here, Oliver vacillating between sore-throated screeches and guttural, positively frightening bellows, all the while displaying a desperation and urgency that Martin Missy somehow comes short on. “Subordinate” follows in FINE fashion, all sprinting guitars, single-bass blasts and absolutely DEPRAVED vocals, the song broken up by a more pronounced passage 2 and a half minutes through before resuming to beat you into a sorry mass of flesh. Absolutely fucking relentless, and even if you never had a yen for the more downtempo fare on “Urm The Mad”, you'd do well to snag this collection just for the MLP material.

As previously asserted, I have always been (quite vehemently) of the opinion that Protector has been sorely overlooked. While not quite as high on my “MUST LISTEN, YOU FUCKING POSERS!” list as the likes of Exumer's 'Possessed By Fire' and the first two Deathrow, Protector certainly deserved considerably more attention than they have received in recent years, a fact that is made all the more outrageous that we have lived through several retro-thrash crazes in recent years (highlighted especially by the outrageous rise of boring crap like Swordmaster and Bewitched). The fact that retro-thrash warrants more attention among metal neophytes than forefathers like Protector, who unquestionably possess a greater set of testicles than any of their blithering facsimiles, is an unforgivable state of affairs that Ola and I seek to rectify. Buy this compilation and let Protector's voracity speak for their relevance in your record collection. I will also use this opportunity to plead with Ola for a copy of the first compilation, as I only have the first two albums on CD- R. ARGHHHHHHHH!

BUY OR DIE.

November 12th, 2005