One of the reviews of the Mayhemic Destruction demo from Ghostrider descibed the band as "Italy's answer to Hellhammer", and they pretty well nailed it with that comparison. This demo from back in 1984 was the only recording from Ghostrider, a four-song assault of primitive, terminally ugly thrash filth that pushes all of my atavistic black metal buttons with their hideous blasting scrape just as effectively as anything off of Satanic Rites. Barbaric and raw as hell, Ghostrider took their Venom/Hellhammer influences and ran 'em through a meatgrinder of low-fi, mangled production and punk influenced riffing, and man, does this stuff rip. Along with Bulldozer, these guys were one of the earliest Italian thrash metal bands, and would later transform into the influential band Necrodeath, but here in this embryonic form, they channeled a raging blackpunk insanity that sounds like a much more fucked-up and punk sounding Venom.

The first song off the demo �Exorcist" opens this with a demented sounding intro of guttural spoken word intro and heavily flanged guitar, and then lurches into a weirdly angular metal jam with the bass mixed incredibly loud and out in front of the mix, the guitar getting tripper and spacier as more flanger effects are cranked up, and the song turns into a pounding punkish dirge. "Curse Of the Valle Christi" is more straightforward, faster and also really punk influenced, the drummer slamming his drums as hard as he can, the guitar and bass swarming in a minimal buzzing blackpunk assault, and "Victim Of Necromancy" is a killer faster number with super sloppy quasi-blastbeats, simplistic catchy riffing, and a very primitive black metal feel. The last song, "Doomed To Serve The Devil" is the most atmospheric song on the demo, starting off with and intro of eerie tolling bells over a creeping bass line, sounding pretty Sabbathy, really, but then it's infested with more of that maniacal screaming and more of that quirky, heavily flanged guitar sound. It's a cool historical document for fans of early black/thrash, but fans of fucked-up 80's metal might also find this band's messed up flange/phaser heavy guitar sound that gives this a sound that was described (albeit in a hilariously disparaging manner) by Bernard Doe from Metal Forces Magazine as "a cross between a poor mans Venom and Hawkwind". Killer stuff if you're into cavernous occult thrash, with absolute sloppy playing, inept and insane guitar solos, and a filthy recording quality that sounds like the record was remastered direct from a grungy old cassette copy of the demo, with lots of buzz and crackle infesting the recording. Hellhammer fanatics should check this out for sure, but Ghostrider's mangled black filth also sounds to me like a primitive ancestor to Bone Awl, Akitsa, Malveillance and other punk-influenced black metal bands.

This limited-edition Italian import is pressed on heavy splatter colored vinyl and includes an insert that has some brief liner notes, the reprints of original fanzine reviews of the demo in English, Italian, and German, and the original Mayhemic Destruction demo cover.