Cyclone Temple “I Hate Therefore I Am” CD

Regardless of the fact that it wasn't released in the 80's, Cyclone Temple's "I Hate Therefore I Am" is without a doubt one of my top five favorite thrash metal records of all time, and I'd probably place it in the #2 position behind Forbidden's "Twisted Into Form" if I was forced to really pin it down. The Chicago act was formed from the ashes of Znowhite in the late-80's when Greg Fulton (formerly known as Ian Tafoya in the Znowhite days) took Scott Schafer and headed in a slightly different direction that achieved thrash perfection on this, the band's debut release in 1991 (their only record for the mighty Combat label). The group was fully masterminded by Fulton, the sole guitarist, who wrote and arranged every fucking note of the music and lyrics, going so far as to coach the vocalist on how to perform the vocal arrangements with the right feel. The dude was a god damn genius and this record proves it—just check out the sick galloping picking patterns, thick power chords, intriguingly dissonant phrasings, and general sense of creativity throughout. It's just a massive record that sounds unlike any other thrash band whatsoever, despite faint similarities to Znowhite since Fulton was running the show back then as well. But every track is a winner, and in contrast to most thrash bands at the time, the songs don't all sound the same, there are a lot of well balanced dynamics and tempo changes, but all with a sense of catchiness and tons of melody as well.

After "I Hate Therefore I Am" the band went on to record the "Building Errors in the Machine" EP and the "My Friend Lonely" full-length, each with different vocalists. "Building Errors..." is a waste of money since the recording is weak and they re-recorded all six tracks on "My Friend Lonely" in '94 with a few new songs to up the running time. While not as powerful as the debut, this one's worth dropping a few bucks on if you can find it, because Fulton's a hell of a songwriter and there are some definite winners to be found—"Drug of the Masses" absolutely sounds like it could've been on the first record. It's also interesting to note how similar the vocalists sound to one another, further displaying Fulton's abilities in coaching the dudes on their performances. But I have to say—Brian Troch's performance on "I Hate Therefore I Am" makes him my favorite thrash vocalist ever. Hands down. I fucking love his style, even if he was taking orders from Fulton.

After Cyclone Temple packed it in, Fulton and Shafer continued once again in Rebels Without Applause, where Fulton finally decided to cut the shit and handle the vocal duties himself (and yes, he sounds fairly similar to the three vocalists he tailored to fit his vision in Cyclone Temple). To date the band has only released an EP and a full-length in eight years, but they're still truckin' (though Fulton's longtime sidekick Schafer has left the band). As "My Friend Lonely" was to "I Hate Therefore I Am", so is Rebels Without Applause to "My Friend Lonely", to a greater degree of separation: More streamlined, a little funkier, and with a bit of a hip-hop inflection to some of the vocal patterns. I picked up their "Low End Head Stomp" record a few years back simply because Fulton's a killer songwriter and was always one of my favorite guitar players. I just love the dude's riffs, and you can still catch a taste of that Cyclone Temple playing style in this material, so... while it ain't always my thing, I support it.

Seriously, though, everyone should grab "I Hate Therefore I Am", by far one of the most criminally overlooked thrash classics in the history of life. Listen for yourself:

Cyclone Temple "Why"

If you decide to make the purchase, Century Media's European branch did a remastered reissue of the disc years ago and it sounds fuckin' great, so I recommend that edition if possible, I even retired my original pressing for it. You can find the original run for pretty cheap all over the place, though. And either way, it deserves a home in your collection...

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