Dyoxen “First Among Equals” CD

If you follow my occasional senseless babbling on Twitter for one reason or another, you may know that I've been on another obscure thrash kick lately. This time so obscure, in fact, that I didn't even know this album existed until last week (which is a damn shame). I've been searching for things like "obscure thrash" on YouTube and having my mind blown by the sheer number of compilation videos containing short clips from excellent thrash bands that I've never heard of in my entire life. Dyoxen is one of those bands. Formed in Montreal, Canada in 1985, they released a couple of demos before unloading their lone full-length album, " First Among Equals", on Cargo Records in 1989. I've spotted other posts online about how criminally underrated this album is, and it's a fact. It's loaded with meaty, galloping riffs and flamboyant leads comparable to some of my all-time favorites like Forbidden's "Twisted Into Form" (granted Dyoxen's songwriting isn't quite as memorable), as well as some completely fucking awesome melodic riffs and dissonant chord phrasings along the lines of other favorites like Cyclone Temple. It's certainly more technical than average, too. Probably not as wildly in your face as bands like Realm or Toxik or whatever (partly due to the fact that this material is simply heavier and the vocals less over the top), but... yeah, there's some pretty intense musicianship happening here, and "First Among Equals" would've likely been a longtime favorite of mine had I discovered it back when I was a kid.

Dyoxen "First Among Equals"
Dyoxen "Contaminated"

Apparently a couple of the band members quit after the album was finished, and Dyoxen had broken up by the end of 1991. Founding guitarist Michael Sanders is now living in Los Angeles and playing with One Tribe Nation—described as performing "a unique and explosive blend of rock, funk, and afro-latino music". Who would've thought!?

So, where can you buy "First Among Equals"? Good luck with that. There are two used copies on Amazon starting at the completely unreasonable price of $79.99, and not even one search result on eBay, so... from what I can tell, it's pretty damn rare. What happened to the good old days where you could buy used copies of an overlooked and underrated gem like this for $5 or less!? Yet another argument for why every band/record label that has ever existed needs to have their music available digitally via iTunes and other such outlets. The sheer volume of out of print gold out there is simply painful...