Toxic Holocaust

Conjure and Command (Relapse)

It’s no secret how one-man thrash brand Joel Grind keeps skate punks elbow-stomping: machine-gun hooks (“Bitch”). The fourth no-frills Megadeth runoff sprints through 10 hand grenades in 32 minutes (“Nowhere To Run”), Conjure and Command the perfect descriptor of Grind’s flawless production aesthetic – parking-lot minimalism with a blacktop smack. “I Am Disease” marches a breather after which the “Revelations” decline, but this Oregonian remains kush.

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This article appears in August 26 • 2011.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.