If this had been one of the older pressings with no bonus tracks, I don't know if I would have even bothered to buy it. The album itself is Pantera-inspired groove metal, not the kind of thing worth wasting time discussing. But when I saw this was the reissue with the band's 1991 demo as bonustracks, I got far more enthusiastic about picking it up, which turned out to be a mistake.
When Extrema started out, they were a breezy thrash/speed band on their 1987 mLP--nothing particularly great, but still pleasant to listen to. By the time their 1993 full length debut rolled around, there was still some residual thrashiness, but they were clearly interested in following the groove metal trends of the '90s. Sadly, the demo is pretty lightweight thrash, and the overall sound leans more towards the full length than the mLP. What I found most odd about these tracks is the funk bass parts they love to throw in. There's a very Faith No More-sounding section in "Join Hands," and elsewhere there are funky little runs. They don't really capitalize on them by going further into any Mordred style stuff, and they end up seeming like rather forced distractions from the thrashing, which is honestly rather middling itself. Still, at least there's some genuine thrash in the demo tracks, which is more than can be said for the actual album.
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