Band:	Toxik
Album:	Think This
Style:	Technical thrash metal
Release date:	October 1989

01. Think This
02. Greed
03. Spontaneous
04. There Stood The Fence
05. Black And White
06. Technical Arrogance
07. WIR NJN8/In God
08. Machine Dream
09. Out On The Tiles [Led Zeppelin cover]
10. Shotgun Logic
11. Time After Time
12. Think That

I don't know about you, but I consider Toxik's debut release World Circus almost a masterpiece of an album. Consequently, as I was getting ready to make friends with their second album Think This I was expecting something as stunning. Unfortunately, I didn't get what I anticipated, and my original dissatisfaction spoilt the impression about this album for a long time. Think This is still a very solid Progressive/Technical Thrash album, which I'm in no position to bash.

Nevertheless, I just can't help but compare the two albums, and for me the latter is just less catchy, which means that the songwriting is a little worse overall. There is just something gut-grabbing missing in Think This, which was present on its predecessor. The vocal performance remained great though even with the unexpected vocalist change (Mike Sanderz was substituted by Charles Sabin) - and a very decent change I have to admit (listening to World Circus made me think Mike Sanderz was irreplaceable). One could even say that Charles' voice shows more variety since he combines both low- and high-pitched vocals unlike Mike and by that makes the album even more progressive. Although no one changed Josh Christian (John Donnelly joined the band as a second guitarist on this album, but he didn't write anything), the solos and riffs for some bloody reason are just not as enjoyable as on the previous record. I can't really call them recycled or unoriginal, but much fewer of them were as breath-taking as those on World Circus. Despite all this critique, Josh will always remain a very special guitarist and songwriter for me.

The songs themselves are pretty complicated (because it's prog/tech duh), so this album is not an easy listen at all and needs some time and attention to get into. I would even dare to say that Toxik were playing some of the most progressive stuff for their time. I seriously had had to listen to this album for almost ten times before I started to enjoy it. I don't know whether it's for the good of for the bad; it probably depends on your predisposition to something complex and intricate. Anyway, this is album is full of good songs, not all of which, to be frank, I enjoyed, but the objective part of me says they are of good quality and can be enjoyed by others.

As you can see this album arouses mixed emotions in me. On the one hand I like it, on the other I compared it with World Circus, and as I result I had hard times enjoying it, but that's just my personal thing (because I expected it to be perfect and flawless). As far as other people who are out for some non-generic Thrash, I am pretty sure you will really enjoy this album by this great band with their unique style. By the way, the album was re-released by Metal Mind Productions and Displeased Records a year ago, so you have a chance to buy it.