Just by perusing the booklet defunct Las Vegas thrash band Papsmear accompanies their retrospective MUSIC TO KILL BY with, you can tell these guys were at the forefront of their scene, as homemade flyers touting shared bills with the likes of COC, Pestilence, and Hirax can attest to. Armed with a feral thrash metal attack that always appeared to be on the brink of falling apart, this band who really never made it out of Vegas combines blistering speed, sneering vocals, whammy bar antics, and lyrical discourse taken straight from the playbook to comprise their style. This multi-faceted collection boasts live recordings, demos, and a DVD of the good old days when beer was cheap, girls were easy, and posers were soundly disposed of or at the very least according to the live shows heard here, resoundly heckled and harassed from the lead singer’s microphone. Diehard thrash maniacs will need this, but there’s way better stuff, both reissued and current, out there to check out before you have to dig into this one. www.metalwarprod.com -Mike SOS