Review Summary: Sometimes you only need one good album
80’s thrash spawned a dedicated following in Australia and at a time well before the internet, metalheads relied upon each other to find metal to explore, with the biggest real metal bands being the Big 4 and the other thrash contenders Testament, Exodus and Sepultura.
Into the 90’s the Australian metal landscape was burgeoning with new thrash bands such as Neophobia, Cryogenic and Mortality on the East Coast following the likes of pioneers Mortal Sin and Armoured Angel. On the West Coast, Allegiance were formed by young like-minded metal musicians and they started playing pubs and entering battle of the bands contests for greater experience and exposure. Because they were good, the independent radio stations and labels took notice of Allegiance and they began to build a following. This was the background to their debut “Destitution” (stylised “D.e.s.t.i.t.u.t.i.o.n.”). By now they had two singles “Hate Frenzy” and “Morally Justified” playing regularly on the only nationwide metal radio program “Three Hours of Power” on Triple J late on Friday nights.
Along with hundreds of young like-minded metal fans, this metalhead appreciated Allegiance’s modern and powerful take on thrash metal at a time when such quality was sparse and everyone was eager for new music.
“Hate Frenzy” and “Morally Justified” were cracking new songs but we had no idea the forthcoming album was to hold a full suite of metal classics. Which was what transpired.
The Intro is really inviting, with futuristic mechanical sounds post Terminator II, but a full 12 months before the landmark “Demanufacture” which nailed the apocalyptic narrative. Other comparable big albums at the time were “Chaos AD” and “Burn My Eyes”, when metal was growing up so to speak. This growing up is apt here with the lyrical content of “Destitution” revolving around themes of social decay, drug use, corruption and poverty suitably fitting this aggressive music.
This definitive Allegiance line-up of Dave Harrison (bass, lyrics), Conrad Higson (vocals), Jason Stone (guitars), Tony Campo (guitars) and Glenn Butcher (drums) constructed riff after riff in each of the 10 main songs to build a formidable thrash metal album. Higson had a Hetfield-esque delivery which made me wonder at the time if Metallica had have released this album how big it might have been. I still wonder it actually. After the booming “Hate Frenzy” comes “Torn Between Two Worlds” which was a long time favourite of mine on this record. It has an extended intro that reminds me of Slayer’s early cut “Metal Storm / Meet the Slayer”. “Destitution” has chops worthy of the honour of title track and “Morally Justified” has a swirling effect created by the guitars which have always been the centrepiece of this album.
Later in the record, the band get darker with “Path of Lies” and “Dealt the Cruel Hand” which have Higson showing his versatility with death growls in either verses or choruses. It elevates the album. “Dealt the Cruel Hand” in particular is fast and urgent and is an unheralded lesson in thrash metal.
The last few songs are closed out by the instrumental “Tranquillity” which is a chilling piano solo which was strangely modelled in the later released “Storm of the Light’s Bane”.
After the successful arising from the underground and public uptake of “Destitution”, Allegiance subsequently played prominent slots at the biggest Aussie traveling music festival the “Big Day Out” in January 1995, of which this reviewer bore witness at the Sydney edition.
Unfortunately, they flamed out after their sophomore album “Skinman” and never returned to the beast of the mid 90’s but we’ll always have “Destitution” and its lofty place in Australian metal folklore.
