Formed in 1986, British thrashers Xentrix (pronounced Zen-tricks) began their careers by playing metal covers before focusing all of their efforts on coming up with original material. Initially known as Sweet Vengeance, guitarist/vocalist Chris Astley, guitarist Kristian Havard, drummer Dennis Gasser and bassist Paul Mackenzie created enough of a stir through their live performances that the English branch of Roadrunner Records took notice and signed the group in January 1989. The band's debut album, ‘Shattered Existence’, produced by John Cuniberti, was released later that year to an overwhelming press response in England, where Xentrix were hailed as heroes. A bunch of scattered live performances followed, with the band embarking on their first headlining UK tour in May 1990. To coincide with the tour, the quartet issued a brand new three-song EP featuring a cover of Ray Parker Junior's "Ghostbusters", scoring some controversy because of the Ghostbusters logo on their EP. The success of this EP led to the recording of the band's second LP for Roadrunner, which was issued in late 1990 under the title ‘For Whose Advantage?’. Immediately following the album's release, the band hit the touring trail again, this time venturing over to Europe for the first time as support to label mates Annihilator. Later, Xentrix entered Loco Studios in South Wales to record two brand new tracks, 'Pure Thought’ and ‘Shadows Of Doubt’, which were later released in EP form along with three live numbers recorded in their hometown in 1991. At the end, the band recorded a three track demo in 1994 with Chris on vocals, before a final album, named 'Scourge' saw the light of day in 1996. Shortly after they banded. The band have sporadically played live throughout the years, but no permanent reunion have been talked about.

FOR WHOSE ADVANTAGE? (1990/1991, 2007) METAL MIND/ROADRACER  

A good friend of mine used to buy and sell CD's as sort of a hobby, and to enlarge his own collection. He had his entire basement filled with vinyl and CD's. Needless to say, metal was the brother part of both the private collection, and the stuff for sale. I used to spend hours looking for cool stuff to acquire for my own addiction; metal collecting! One of the coolest thing about it was that you could find new stuff you didn't even know existed there. Now, years later, thanks to the internet, I've found out that many of those band I discovered down in that basement actually enjoy cult following all over the world. Xentrix is such a band. In their heyday they were signed to RoadRacer Records. But in being of the 3rd tier of thrash metal bands, popping out during the early 90's, and based in England (not exactly the thrash metal center of the world), I was certain that this band was largely forgotten by now. And while there is some truth to that, there also exists a whole slew of dedicated thrash metal fans that consider them to be a gem in the thrash metal history. I have to agree with that. 'For Whose Advantage?', the bands second full-length album, is a fine thrash metal platter, tragically ignored by most metal lovers. The 90's almost managed to kill this kind of music, but thanks to the dedicated fans who never gave up, the music bands like Xentrix were creating was never forgotten. One might say this particular album sounds somewhat like a blend of Annihilator, Metallica and early 90's Megadeth. Vocalist Chris Astley has this gruff, raspy voice that might have a tendency to sound a tad monotonous, but I think most thrash maniacs will like him nonetheless. Backed up by a steady rhythm section, the music is both vicious and melodic at the same time. The only departure is the nice acoustic instrumental, "New Beginnings". Otherwise, this is time-typical thrash metal from England, anno 1990! "Running White Faced City Boy" is a Gillan cover. 'For Whose Advantage' was re-released by Metal Mind in 2007. The reissue holds 6 bonus tracks, originally released on their 'Dilute To Taste' EP. This six track EP was released when the band was at their peak. It contains 2 new studio tracks, showing a band that has gone in a slightly more melodic direction. Not much though. The last 4 tracks are live renderings of the bands "older" songs, including the "Ghostbusters" cover they got some recognition for. The band sounds tight, and the recordings are good.

Killer tracks: Questions, The Human Condition, The Bitter End, Desperate Remedies

  SCOURGE (1996) HEAVY METAL

When the 90's, and it's grunge and alternative rock movement hit the big time, bands like Xentrix often found themselves in a clinch. Many bands folded, others never gave in, and then there were those that tried to blend in with music they thought would be accepted by the music press, or the music buying masses. Sadly, Xentrix opted for the latter. With a new vocalist, and second guitar-player, they released their swan song album in 1996, entitled 'Scourge'. Ironically released on a label dubbed Heavy Metal Records, this CD suffers immensely from the fact that the band is trying to be something they are clearly not. Heck, even the cover art "smells" bad! The music is downtuned neo-thrash in the Pantera, Machine Head, Stabbing Westward vain. The new vocalist sounds like a cross between Phil (Pantera) and Robb (Machine Head), and to be fair, he does a solid job. Of course the biggest problem with the platter is that it really comes across as a carbon copy. Generic is the word I'm looking for. And it's such a shame that a band that had something of their own waste it on following a lame trend (just listen to the rapping in "Caught You Living". GACK!). As I wrote this I checked to see what song I was listening to. Turns out, I was already on track 3, and I hadn't even noticed the songs changing! My recommendation would be to avoid this album like the plague, but look up the bands earlier material instead.

Killer tracks: The Hand That Feeds Itself