SHAH - Beware (SNC Records, 1989)

SHAH's second full lenght LP released on SNC (The Soviet Independent Record Label) is probably the most popular Shah LP amongst fans. Kind of a medium between the Destruction blitzkgried thrash of the early demos and first LP but not yet the total Metallica-like later material, it combines the best of both worlds. Produced by Valeri Gaina - the vocalist of Kruiz. You can also check out Shah's official Myspace for a decent history of the band.

file: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LDW54GYS

SHAH - Terror Collection (SNC Records, 1991)

While Master might have been the first "official" Soviet thrash band, I think that righful honor should go to another Moscow band - Shah. Formed in 1985, Shah played thrash metal with English lyrics from the get-go. The "Terror Collection" LP I have here collects various demo and previously unreleased songs from 1985 through 1991. Musically I'd say the later songs on this is like a solid mix of "Show No Mercy" and "Ride the Lightning" while in the earlier ones (while still being thrashy) I detect a strong Priest influence, check out "Metal Fight", I think it sounds almost exactly like "Defenders of the Faith". The band members for reason unknown crafted themselves "South American" sounding names while in fact they were Russian. A note about this cool looking cover, a friend informed me that the masks on it are from an ad in "Fangoria" magazine. Anyway, check out "The Terror Collection" :

Killing Machine ('86)
Overload ('91)
Damned Sinner ('86)
Age Of Darkness ('91)
Thrashing Metal Race ('85)
Terror Collection ('91)
Masdon Must Die ('85)
Mad Future ('87)
Ashes To Ashes ('85)
Metal Fight ('85)


Shah @ bnrmetal.com (a bunch more info)

MASTER - With Lee On a Neck (Melodiya, 1991)

Master's second LP - "With Lee On a Neck" lived up much more to the "thrash" description then their S/T effort. Here we indeed have fast thrash throughout the album, and unlike S/T there isn't an outright "ballad" present. While being "accepted" and released on state-run Melodiya records, Master unlike Gorky Park stuck to their guns, while the lyrics did reflect something the establishment might have liked to hear (in the case of this album the theme of "peace") the music was not a 2nd rate Def Leppard meets Poison blend but breakneck thrash. Master is still a band today and continues to release albums, their modern material will have to make for another post however. There are 2 alternate covers to this LP. The one I have is the white cover. I don't know which one is an earlier pressing.

We Don't Want
God Save Our Fury


Master @ metal-archives.com
Master Official Site (in Russian)

MASTER - Master (Melodiya, 1989)

While their releases roughly coincided, this is definately not the Paul Speck Master, This Master were sharing members with one of Russia's first heavy metal bands - ARIA, Moscow's Master was formed in the mid-80's to pursue a more "thrash" sound then the Maiden/Priest influenced ARIA. Recording this debut S/T album 1988 and releasing it on state-run Melodiya in 1989, the album was hailed as the first Russian "Thrash" LP however, I think most of the songs on the S/T are just plain old traditional, Priest-influenced heavy metal, save for the title track which is indeed really fast thrash, and an omen on what their second LP - "With Lee on a Neck" would sound like.

Note: Compared to the metal-arhives.com data on the release dates of both of these albums I found a descrepancy. The dates on there are listed a year prior to the one's I've listed. The years I posted come straight from the center label where each year is clearly labeled as "recorded" and "released", ex. in the case of this album the years being 88 and 89.

Master