Allegiance - D.E.S.T.I.T.U.T.I.O.N.
1994 ID

Track Listing:
1.  Chaos Dies
2.  One Step Beyond
3.  Hate Frenzy
4.  Torn Between Two Worlds
5.  Destitution
6.  Morally Justified
7.  Path Of Lies
8.  Dealt The Cruel Hand
9.  Downward Spiral
10. Twisted Minds
11. Tranquility

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Conrad Higson
Guitars:  Jason Stone, Tony Campo
Bass:  David Harrison
Drums:  Glenn Butcher
Keyboards:  Jason Stone

Website:  http://www.metalgospel.com/Allegiance/

Horatio's Rating:  F
Overall Rating:  F

Horatio's Review:
This is an embarrassment of major proportions and stands as a figure of absolute shit in the death/thrash genre.  Allegiance are a bunch of Aussies, which if you are familiar with that nation should be obvious when you see Tony Campo, some greasy looking Italian immigrant.  The bands photos see them decked out in the best 1994 metal fashions, four of them wearing ludicrously oversized full sleeved shirts on their skinny frames, the shirts of choice involving Napalm Death, Fear Factory, Primus and Allegiance themselves.  In their liner notes they thank such metal luminaries like Rob Halford, Kreator, Morbid Angel, Soundgarden (?), Mudhoney (!!), Pungent Stench and those homegrown New Zealand wimps Shi(t)had.  They go on to thank hundreds of 'zines that supported their cause, from countries as far flung as Lithuania and Chile, before including that paragon of metal, Metal Maniacs (edit:  I love the smell of sarcasm in the morning. - Shev).  All this praise makes them sound important doesn't it?  I'm sure Halford sent them a note of thanks for mentioning him.

Musically it's a mixture of every minor league thrash band who ever existed, for some reason Dark Angel spring to mind for comparisons.  There's an abundance of speed, but instead of making you get up and head bang, you feel compelled to just sit instead.  They delve into blast beat territory on occasion and this is perhaps the most laughable aspect of the whole thing.  You want amateur time, low budget production, then this is for you.  Just as bad are Harrison's lyrics, which deal with personal torment and despair, which should be apparent from the albums title.  The attempts to use complicated words and sentence structures are merely tenth rate Barney Greenway copies.  The songs all sound alike, the thrash is horrific and the band look like a bunch of Aussie death metal geeks you would see on the streets in 100 degree weather wearing their long sleeved shirts, complete with greasy long hair and pimply faces.

Song summaries include:

Chaos Dies - Wow a full on thrash attack! So what? I'd take 'Youthanasia' Megadeth over this.
One Step Beyond - Feel those riffs baby! Shred isn't dead. I think Allegiance might be the band to save thrash! Seriously! Man did you hear that blast beat? All three seconds of it!
Hate Frenzy - Harrison unleashes his verbal rage on an unsuspecting world to an uncompromising barrage of speed. 'Riot squads to control conflicting opinion, rebellious retaliation? Forced to listen'. The truth right? 'Destructive thought to solve or destroy? Rational brains contort negative their ploys'. Yeah.
Torn Between Two Worlds - 'This problem lodged too deep, One body a merging point? Or just a mental malfunction? One of life's mysteries? One of life's crimes? Attention seeking individuals? Or one person with two minds?' Harrison. A man with questions but no answers. Yawn...
Destitution - Why didn't they spell the title track like the ridiculous way on the cover? Harrison delivers a scathing attack on homelessness and poverty which I'm sure they were living in after the sales for this. Thanks god I stole it. 'Desperation is my life, In poverty I will die!' sings Higson. I'm sure that occurred as far back as 1995.
Morally Justified - More laboured thrash, more incomprehensible lyrics.
Path Of Lies - An instant blast beat opens this extravaganza which gives their heroes Napalm Death a run for their money! There's even death metal grunts on a Glenn Benton level. These guys had diversity didn't they? Of course things slow to a grind after that interesting segment.
Dealt The Cruel Hand - I can't sit through this.
Downward Spiral - While summing up Allegiance's career, there's another brief flirtation with death metal vocals, as Harrison does it again, this time the gripping tale of a promising youngster with the world in his hands who falls to heroin addiction. It happens to us all doesn't it?
Twisted Minds - Another thrasher, another shitter.
Tranquility - This truly is the defining moment of crap. I had no idea this was part of the CD before this exact moment of typing. A piano based ballad with strings, that sounds like some symphonic metal nonsense, I assume this is an attempt by Allegiance to prove they had 'another side', they just weren't all about brutal thrash, you know we have feelings too! I fail to see the point in the end as there are no vocals, maybe they thought it was clever, a pleasant end to one of thrash's greatest moments. Ironic or what?!
Horatio's Rating:  F