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This is a cool lost gem now being officially issued for the first time for this short-lived band that recorded this as a demo back in 1989. That right there tells you that this does not have the best sound, kind of muffled and lo-fi-ish actually, but it's quite listenable.

Obviously these guys had been listening to the big names of thrash as the influences are unmistakable and kind of all over the place, but centred around the Bay Area. I hear a lot of Ride the Lightning/Master of Puppets-era Metallica here, especially when it comes to the dark melodies that were featured on some of the slower passages of those two landmark albums. There's some Slayer influence here as well, not only musically but the vocals are kind of close to that in style. Lots of thrashing madness can be found here, but some of the songs are closer to just pure heavy metal with a thrashy vibe. Overall this is a dark-sounding album and the low-budget production makes it sound even darker. If you like your thrash old school and you're not obsessed with shiny production and virtuoso-level playing, Ariah is definitely worth checking out.