Chyba najciekawsze wydawnictwo PROTECTOR debiut Misanthropy  z roku 1987 Pierwsze wydanie ATOM Rec + insert bdb

Protector’s first release is definitely one of the most outstanding EPs ever released in the history of metal. There’s many other extended-plays that offered something remarkable, from both American and European bands from those glorious old times, and we all have our favorites. But nobody else did something so incredibly harsh in that small short format, in only 6 tracks. Protector made a difference from the very first beginning of their career from the many great bands back then. If you listen to this, then you will know what I mean. What you will in this EP might surprise you if you’re not used to the mid-80’s extreme Teutonic brutality and, apart from these guys, there were other German thrashers who did great stuff but didn’t reach this high level.

The EP starts with a silly keyboard atmosphere intro and a distorted voice, but once that is over you’d better get ready to headbang like never ever before. The band attack extraordinarily violent with totally devastating riffs, hooks, incessant blast-beats and those grotesque vocals that will make you shiver and shake immediately. Speed, aggression and brutality is what this is all about, straight raw compositions of terminal velocity and proper skills. I must insist on the speed of these tracks, which is absolutely insatiable, insane and pure energy. These guys were pioneers on combining characteristics from thrash, death and even hardcore because there’s a lot of attitude here. It’s obvious they listened to what Slayer, Exodus, Voivod, Venom or D.R.I. did back then (as you can see in the band t-shirts they wore in those good old times). The influence of those bands sound is notable on the killer riffs, the alterations on them, the crucial bridges and breaks, even on the pickin’ parts that show the fascination of guitarist Hansi Müller for the combo King-Hanneman. Each tune with no exception is a rough display of instrumental brilliance and sadistic intensity, not only a bunch of senseless unfocused noise that is leading nowhere. The admirable song-structures and hyperactive tempo changes require that ability and agility to play extremenly fast and these musicians are professional enough to sound convincing all the time. As I mentioned before, these numbers feature a collection of riffs that the group modifies constantly along with the rhythm, and some get quieter for a second. “Kain And Abel”, for instance, is plenty of solid low-tuned dark weighty riffing, which makes Protector’s sound get sinister and versatile.

There’s no doubt about it, not even Protector themselves would reach this unique memorable aggression and violence later. The band is in a state of grace, particularly the destructive execution of hungry crushing riffing by Mr.Müller going wild and uncontrolled, as usual. He tries to perform the solos as fast as possible with decent results, with not many pedal and whammy-bar predictable effects. Some of his guitar lines are quite basic, at times primitive and poor but effective for the nature of these compositions. The vocals are one of the most distinctive elements of this band. Missy’s voice is very disgusting and disturbing, perfect for this music. In the first tracks he didn’t seem to develop his vocal tone yet into his death guttural growling, he sounds like Mem Von Stein or Mille on their early work. However, in the last songs of the EP his voice is completely unleashed and deep, rivalizing seriously with Becerra or Schuldiner. The drum work of an inspired Michael Hasse is marvelous, magnificent and I don’t mean it’s technical or surprising at all; he controls and dominates the double bass-drum beatings with perfection and skills and that’s something that deserves some recognition compared with the incompetence of some of his peers. I got shocked when I first listened to those outrageous frantic blast beats of precision and ability, so admirable. And what about the bass? Well, what did you expect? We couldn’t ask much from a low-budget production and mixing, so no bass can be heard because guitars and vocals take all attention. Once again, Protector got a bad production that didn’t affect significantly the wonderful final result of the EP, it rather provided the sound of an unpolished dirty climax.

So no, this is not one of those generic dumb EPs with 3 or 4 new songs and the rest a few live bootleg sound quality fillers or unnecessary covers. These are 6 immense merciless fresh death/thrash cuts that show no mercy, compassion or weakness at all. Pure energy, bestiality and fine skills, in the brutal Teutonic way. The best beginning possible for this group that never gets the credits it deserves. I still wonder how such a superb release like this could remain so underrated and ignored while other got all attention and recognition. If you enjoy sonic violence and insane headbanging as much as I do, here you got a delightful lot of fun and amusement.