Animosity

In the midst of the burgeoning Black- and Death Metal environment of early 1990s Thessaloniki, ANIMOSITY emerged as one of a handful of bands that went against the grain to play straight-ahead Thrash Metal. The band was founded in 1992 and the original lineup was made up of Stratos (vocals), Kleanthis (guitars), Sakis (guitars) and Dimitris (drums). Soon after, ANIMOSITY did some inaugural rehearsal recordings at Rover Studios in their hometown, which allegedly sounded like slow Heavy Metal with doom passages. Not satisfied with the results – they wanted to take their music in a faster and more complex direction – these recordings were eventually scrapped. In the aftermath, vocalist Stratos left the band under amicable conditions and Kleanthis took over the vocals/bass position. With this new configuration, ANIMOSITY once more entered Rover Studios to record their debut demo, done live in the studio under the title “In Our Rules” (1993).

Unfortunately, the “In Our Rules” tape has eluded us so far, so we’ll have to settle with descriptions taken from fanzine reviews. The demo has been described in a rather positive manner, consisting of pure Thrash Metal in the vein of old METALLICA and with the vocalist Kleanthis possessing a voice similar to that of James Hetfield.

In addition to the above-mentioned tape, ANIMOSITY also made it onto several compilation tapes back in the day. From these, we can mention the following tracks: “Dictator Rules”, “Holy Pain” and “Lost Soul”. There was also some mentions of a second demo being in the making, but whether it was ever realized is currently unknown. If you know anything else about this band, or happen to have the “In Our Rules” demo, please feel free to contact us.

Compilation appearances:

* Darkest Occult Comp. No 1 [Cass, Comp: Self-released, 1994]
* The Omen [Cass, Comp, Numbered: Heavy – Rock Tapes, 1994]
* Thrash Metal [Cass, Comp, Numbered: Heavy – Rock Tapes, 1995]