The hype sticker on the plastic wrap over the LP sleeve tells you all you need to know about Population Control’s Death Toll—it’s “darken blackened thrash metal from the industrial wasteland of Milwaukee, WI.” This band is closer to Norwegian black-metal bands like Mayhem than other thrash metal bands are, and the screeching vocals, the tremolo guitar picking and blast beats make it obvious. Not a single note is wasted in each song; they’re straight to the point, well-composed and powerful.
The amount of energy pushed out of this album and into the listener’s ears is overwhelming. “They Won’t Stay Dead,” starts off with a looming, destructive beat that drops into a pure thrash hook. The breakdown in the middle of the song overrides the senses and sends chills down the spine. “Fog of War” carries the thrash energy along and supplements the beat with double bass pedals. The lyrics speak to an internal struggle: “A plague rests on my soul / Thoughts race a thousand-fold / Through time and space I’ve lost / A war with myself.”
