[Cover artwork by Trash Bandicoot]
Aotearoa New Zealand is often trumpeted as a clean, green utopia. However, the truth is, plenty of New Zealand is a rotting dungheap. In fact, here’s a recent story from the country’s capital city (and my hometown), Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington), to highlight that fact.
On February 4, 2026, the wastewater treatment plant for Wellington City suffered a catastrophic failure. Over the following weeks, a billion litres of raw, untreated sewage were pumped into the ocean; initially through a short outfall pipe located a few feet from a much-loved beach.
That spill was an environmental disaster. It contaminated a vast stretch of coastline, including an ecologically sensitive marine reserve, and it destroyed decades of environmental progress in a heartbeat. Local Wellingtonians expressed absolute horror, with many reporting that a slimy, brown ‘faecal spray’ coated their homes, cars, and window sills following weeks of storms. It was, and remains, a shit-show.
I’m telling you this because that crap-coated beach mentioned above is a hop, skip, and jump away from the birthplace of four-piece thrash band Total Violation. To be honest, Total Violation don’t sound like they have a high opinion of Homo sapiens at the best of times. However, if the band ever needed a reminder that humanity is a scourge, they don’t need to look very far. All they need to do is open the front door and take a deep breath; people = shit, as those nü-metal clowns once said.
At times like this, when humanity’s predilection for self-destruction feels so acute, we need bands that’ll slip on their high-tops, strap on their bullet belts, and cut through all the bull(shit). We need bands that’ll get down to business, pumping out mosh-while-the-world-burns music. Bands like Total Violation.
Total Violation’s mix of speed metal, crossover, and old-school thrash is both exorcising and annihilating; a definite win-win at this stage of the apocalypse. Total Violation’s full-length debut, Speed Dealers, delivers exactly what it says on the tin. There’s no goofball pizza-metal or arch affectations here; Total Violation deliver hard, fast, face-melting thrash. If your first encounters with Power and Pain or Evil Invaders felt like a religious awakening, Speed Dealers will be right up your greasy alley.
Total Violation aren’t the only ones scratching that subterranean, old school itch in New Zealand. The obvious comparison is fellow Wellington speed metallers Stälker. The Napalm Records signees have been quiet of late, but Stälker’s have sold truckloads of records at home and in Europe by nailing that classic 80s aesthetic we all love: radioactive riffage, over-the-top theatrics, gauntlets, battle vests, the works.
Total Violation follow a similar route, albeit festooned with less spandex and bondage gear, and the band inject plenty of punk-like attitude into their fist-pumping metal. NZ punk label Razored Raw backed Total Violation’s previous releases, and label founder Matai Szwed recorded the drums on Speed Dealers. Stälker’s own Daif King stepped in to produce the bulk of Speed Dealers while also contributing bass and adding his signature sky-high vocals to the album’s title track.
Speed Dealers oozes gritty/grimy basement thrash. Guitarist Leroy shreds like a wildman, while vocalist Clayton pairs gravel-gargling growls with piercing falsettos; a sure-to-be happy surprise for fans of Clayton’s previous endeavours, which had a far more evil tone. Amphetamine-fuelled tracks like “Delapidated Minds”, “At Full Moon They Rise (Lord of the Woods)”, and “Sadistik Exekution” roar by, powered by lightning-fast guitar and concussive percussion (and amped-up by throat-scouring vocals). Riffs rage throughout Speed Dealers, and while there’s a ripping crossover tang to “Mr Plow” and “Tailgater”, the bulk of the album leans further into the darkness of early speed metal than Total Violation’s previous releases.
I don’t want to drain all the live-wire energy out of Speed Dealers by dryly picking it apart. However, it definitely takes genuine skill and forethought to deliver metal this lean ‘n’ mean. Everything sounds off-the-chain, boiling with an almost demo-like gusto that adds to Speed Dealers’ punch and potency.
Are there issues to consider? Sure. There are some spicy lyrical threads; a nod to the incendiary days of yore, perhaps. A peek at Speed Dealers‘ vivid cover art (courtesy of Wellington tattooist/artist Trash Bandicoot) tells you what to expect, thematically: monsters, boobs, blood, death, weird boners, et cetera!
The only real limitation here, which won’t bother fans of über-savage thrash, is that Speed Dealers stakes its ground in the first few seconds and refuses to budge. Total Violation occupy a clearly delineated space in the coterie of raw thrash. If you’re searching for progressive or avant-garde metal, look elsewhere. Total Violation are definitely more Whiplash than Voivod.
There’s a lot to love here. Speed Dealers reminds us how much vital, down-to-earth metal exists just below the surface. This is prime ‘second-tier’ thrash, which is no insult. We all know that second tier is crammed with bands that sound gnarlier and hungrier than plenty of supposedly top-tier, pro-level groups.
(Side note: I don’t know about you, but when I was a nipper, there was only one store in town where I could catch a glimpse of genuinely underground – or non-Big Four – thrash albums. In my case, that was Grunt Records, a legendary spot for sourcing LPs from the early years of death metal, thrash, and grindcore. Grunt Records owner Bruce Rae was a tireless advocate for extreme metal, and he would have gone to bat for an album like Speed Dealers in a heartbeat.)
Production-wise, Speed Dealers captures Total Violation’s strengths/authenticity without ever sounding too polished. There’s riff gymnastics galore here, but none sounds like pointless showboating. It’s all geared to get your blood pumping, and everything is rough-edged but tough-as-steel, adding muscle to Total Violation’s momentum.
Much like Stälker, Total Violation are in the business of celebrating underground metal’s prized hallmarks: dive-bombing guitars, volatile vocals, and uncompromising songs. Bang thy head. Wreck thy neck. Metal, most assuredly, up thy ass. Speed Dealers fuckin’ slaps.
Self-released February 28, 2026
