Birthed in the early ‘80s alongside such thrash-metal pioneers as Slayer and Metallica, Nasty Savage was an integral part of the genre, though they never really surfaced from the underground before disbanding in 1989. Following the band’s Wage Of Mayhem demo that circulated in the speed-metal cassette-tape- swapping community, Nasty Savage recorded their eponymous debut album in 1985 for Metal Blade. Ronnie Galetti’s ferocious vocals played second fiddle to the heated technical intensity of Ben Meyer and David Austin’s adroit fretboard shredding. The minute-long acoustic instrumental “Garden of Temptation” plays like medieval folk without succumbing to renaissance fair clichés. On the adventure-rock of “Gladiator” Galetti slips from high tenor into an athletic falsetto with ease, though he also had a penchant for deep guttural growls as heard on “Dungeon of Pleasure” – later albums would find the band flirting with death metal. “End of Time” finishes the album like the grand finale of a fireworks display.