Toxik - Think This (1989)

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Toxik - Think This (1989)

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If there's a single phrase that could be used to described metal music in the late 80s, it would be "a total mind job", and not merely because of the up and coming progressive strain that was being forwarded by the likes Fates Warning and a few others. Left and right (though mostly left) were thrash metal bands that shifted from freaking out the masses with their dark imagery and horrific lyrics to pontificating about politics and the environment, and perhaps further hastened the ongoing generational divide between thrash and death metal. But if there was a single album that truly embodied both the musical and lyrical shift that was underway at the close of the 80s, it's Toxik's widely lauded sophomore effort "Think This", which takes a similarly dark and cynical view of human politics to that of Queensyrche's "Operation: Mindcrime", but in a much more generalized and introspective way, not to mention a far more musically intricate and metallic one as well.

While not as overt of a concept album with named characters as the aforementioned 1988 Seattle grown nod to George Orwell, this album carries a lot of trappings that make it function more as an extended drama than a collection of singles strung together into a singular story. Recurring synthesizer and acoustic guitar themes give an ominous feel of going in circles, which is further bolstered by repeated cuts to several television samples that interplay with the various subjects of each individual song. In essence, Toxik managed to adopt the same sort of rabid political activism of Nuclear Assault and have transformed it into something much more subtle, something that truly impacts a person with any degree of interest in the subject with an intelligent and methodical approach. Likewise, the singularity of newly recruited and short-lived front man Charles Sabin, save a few tastefully placed choral harmonies and gang shouts, keeps this album nestled within an accessible thrash metal paradigm, though Sabin's over-the-top, high pitched delivery carries a heavy resemblance to the neurotic and almost inhuman character of Ray Adler's vocal work on Fates Warning's "No Exit".

But for all its heavy attention to peripheral detailing, the true charm of this album is that it manages to maintain a solid, thrashing core while straddling a number of fences separating said style from the more archaic power/speed sound of bands like Helstar and Agent Steel, along with the quirky musical twists that had begun to grow out of Queensryche's "Rage For Order" and Fates Warning's "Awaken The Guardian". Acoustic passages are fairly common, and a full fledged ballad in "There Stood The Fence" definitely hints at a strong influence outside of traditional thrash quarters, even when compared with the occasional usage of similar devices by Nuclear Assault, but it still comes off as too frenetic and flashy to share the same territory with the likes of Leatherwolf or Accept on one end, or Fates Warning on the other, despite some obvious common influences. When hearing a lot of the neck-crushing sections that come and go at rapid intervals on the likes of "Black And White" and "Greed", it's difficult to miss the clear Slayer and Exodus influences that have been interwoven with all the other musical devices at work.

Much like a number of late 80s releases, "Think This" is not quite the same sort of beast that most would tend to associate with thrash metal, as it has almost as many deviations from the traditions laid forth by the founding fathers of the style both in Toxik's native New York and on the West Coast. It's impossible to mistake what is being heard on here with anything that came out of Anthrax or Heathen, though it comes a lot closer to resembling the less extreme character of said bands when measured against the embryonic death metal character of Slayer, Possessed, to speak nothing for the Florida scene that was beginning to come about at this juncture. It's appeal is more directly in line with the progressive stream of 80s metal typified by Fates Warning, yet it's presented in a much more polished way than anything said band did before their commercial shift on "Perfect Symmetry" while still being stylistically closer to the earlier, rawer sound. Comparisons to the likes of Crimson Glory are also not completely out of line, though said band never mixed riffs that sound almost intense enough to have been heard on Death Angel's debut in with all the acoustic largess they were known to occasionally tout. It's truly an epic, progressive undertaking by a band that discovered a truly unique niche within the nightmarish world of political doublethink and the flashy technical craze of 1989.

hells_unicorn, metal-archives.com

Like many late-'80s metal outfits, New York's Toxik took such a cerebral approach to music that their songs often came across sounding like boring math problems or history classes instead of exhilarating art lessons. They even named their second and final album from 1989 Think This – perhaps because they already anticipated that simply "listening to this" might not be enough. Well OK, surely not, but too much thinking is exactly what's required from all those who would dare to approach incredibly overwrought and stylistically scattered dexterity exercises such as "Greed," "Shotgun Logic," and the perfectly titled, inadvertently self-descriptive "Technical Arrogance." All are reminiscent of contemporary bands like Watchtower, Non-Fiction, and Hades, in that the duress of deciphering their Byzantine arrangements is possibly only less challenging than withstanding the high-pitched, glass-shattering vocal style (here shrieked by one Charles Sabin) that was so popular in those days. Elsewhere, Toxik also take some inspiration from local heroes Anthrax on thrashier but somewhat atonal numbers like "Black and White" and the title track; rarely hesitate to interject synths into the mix when they feel like it; surprisingly cover Led Zeppelin III's "Out on the Tiles" (terribly!); and arguably sound most at ease on the unusually deliberate and melodic trad-metal departure, "There Stood the Fence" (more fluid in style, à la Queensrÿche or Fifth Angel). And then there's the final "shred" element provided by the group's chief architect, Josh Christian, whose dazzling fretwork gymnastics may offer entertainment enough in spite of the songwriting deficiencies cited above. In short, although it's abundantly clear why Toxik's music failed miserably from a commercial point of view, there's bound to be something worthwhile here for progressive metal fans looking for performance as much as actual songwriting.

by Eduardo Rivadavia, AMG

Please Ignore “Eduardo Riva DIVA’s review of THINK THIS as he obviously has a personal issue with TOXIK and Josh Christian.

As evidenced by the hundreds of glowing praise filled comments on youtube on ANY TOXIK track you will quickly see that the clown that wrote this review is in the minority.

THINK THIS is heralded world wide as a classic Tech Thrash Metal album.

This record’s title is a reference to the brainwashing aspect of TV as used by the mass media something “RIVA-DIVA” failed to grasp.
This record is a classic genre defining slab of state of the art speed metal guitar shred,a veritable tour de force bastioned by socially conscious lyrics,incredible power groove riffs,sick precise drumming and of course virtuoso level guitar playing.This record sold upwards of 50,000 copies with zero promotion and the band was ripped of by the scum sucking label Roadracer.

by L13 L13, AMG

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Toxik - Think This (1989)

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Toxik - Think This (1989)

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Toxik - Think This (1989)

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