Band's List Thrash Speed Kublai Khan (USA-1) Annihilation

My interest in Kublai Khan started when I traced one of Megadeth's earliest guitarists to it. His name was Greg Handevidt. He was the founding member of Kublai Khan as well as the singer and guitarist. I knew that Kublai had been formed for four years before breaking up and released but one album: Annihilation.

The band itself is obviously very talented, with riffs that scream thrash metal, (close to that of Destruction) and solos very similar to Slayer or Voivod. The vocals are a mixture of James Hetfield (Metallica), Tom Araya (Slayer), and Steve Souza (Exodus). As a fan of multiple thrash, death and NWOBHM bands, this album was right up my alley. When this talent is considered, it's unthinkable that this band didn't hit it huge, as big as Megadeth, Slayer or Sepultura. This album is, to say the least, a masterpiece; the songs are well crafted, and the solos are done not only with speed, but with a powerful rawness.

When the album started, I was fairly impressed, but the impressiveness of the album continuously grew until it became certain that this band DEFINITELY deserved more recognition than they did. Period.