Thrash Metal

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Forbidden – Omega Wave (2010)

    cover

    In their first album in 13 years, Forbidden has managed to surpass all expectations and deliver a Thrash-tastic album that can easily be considered one of their best in their career, next to “Twisted into Form”. With the new addition of Steve Smyth on guitars and Mark Hernandez on drums, the band shows no signs of aging and with “Omega Wave” they deliver 12 excellent tracks of fresh-sounding Thrash Metal.

    Immediately with the momentum builder opening track “Alpha Century”, you can see that Forbidden is not back to re-hash old days of glory, but rather push forward with their Thrash Metal sound. The band’s current sound is the perfectly blend of old-school style Thrash with dynamic riffing, a highly technical edge over other bands, brilliant vocal work, and that hint of experimentation that brings this release nicely in to 2010.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    The Wretched End – Ominous (2010)

    cover

    From the mind of Samoth (ex-Emperor, ex-Zyklon, etc) we have “Ominous”, the debut full-length release of The Wretched End. Having a band featuring Samoth and Nils Fjellström (ex-Dark Funeral), you know that the music will be intense and very well crafted. In addition to the band’s impressive line-up we have Cosmo (Mindgrinder and Scum), handling vocals and bass guitars.

    Playing a very fresh blend of Death Metal with Thrash influences and the occasional Emperor-esque Black Metal hint here and there, The Wretched End brings forth a very solid debut album that immediately showcases the quality of musicians participating in the band. “Ominous” features 12 tracks of relentless music that will please all fans of almost any previous project/band of Samoth.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Negligence – Coordinates of Confusion (2010)

    cover

    This 2010 we got monumental Thrash Metal releases by legendary bands like Exodus, Forbidden, Death Angel, etc, so it’s very hard to find any newcomer band that can easily be compared to these great bands and their high quality releases Hailing from Slovenia, today we have Negligence, a band that might not have the same impressive trajectory of Exodus and Death Angel, but they can still play some mean Thrash Metal and look good while doing it.

    While “Coordinates of Confusion” might not be an extreme original album, it still has enough quality to maybe sneak into some top 10 of 2010 lists in the genre. The musicianship and songwriting behind this release is superb, creating a very entertaining release that will surely please the most demanding fans of the genre.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Invasion – Orchestrated Kill Maneuver (2010)

    cover

    Quality can usually be considered a matter of perspective, and when it comes to Invasion’s “Orchestrated Kill Manuever” perspective immediately comes in to play. If you compared them to old-school European bands that play (and have played) the whole war-inspired Thrash/Death Metal band, then they are just one more in the bunch. However, if you consider what US bands have done for the genre, then we have to agree that Invasion is not that bad.

    With chuggy distortion and catchy riffs, Invasion comes at us with a brutal attack of straight-forward in-your-face Thrash/Death Metal that will make it hard for anybody to deny their effectiveness. That being said, they don’t have much to offer when it comes to originality or diversity.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Death Angel – Relentless Retribution (2010)

    cover

    The year 2010 has been a year in terms of Thrash Metal releases; we had Exodus, Forbidden and Death Angel drop some very impressive records this year. “Relentless Retribution” showcases Death Angle mixing some of their older elements with more groove-oriented hints, creating a very powerful sounding album, probably their heaviest material to date.

    Led by Rob Cavestany and Ted Aguilar’s guitar work, the band never runs out of catchy riffs, powerful rhythmical section, and intense solos, all the elements of a traditional Thrash Metal release. Most songs have a very traditional approach to them having the Death Angel signature in every riff and melodic passage, without losing the occasional tempo increase, perfect for headbanging all night long.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    RattleheaD – Tales from the Gutter (2010)

    cover

    Back in the day when Speed/Thrash Metal was (originally) a thriving genre, we used to have some pretty good bands (that later became really big: Megadeth, Metallica, etc.). If RattleheaD would have been formed in those days, for sure they would have been epic and big, but they probably would have sucked since they wouldn’t have had anybody to steal their sound from.

    Don’t get us wrong, we love old-school music and when a younger band does a great job in emulating past glories of other bands, we are all for it. But this is not the case with RattleheaD, their latest release “Tales from the Gutter” clearly shows why they are not signed and it might be a time to consider a genre change or some drastic changes in their music in order to get really noticed.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Broken Mirrors – Strong Enough (2010)

    cover

    Hailing from France, today we have a very interesting EP from an unusual band that has a very fresh sound. Mixing some Thrash Metal influences with Melodic Death Metal elements and Children of Bodom like vocals “Strong Enough” is a short, yet effective release from a band that has great potential.

    The first thing that will pop out is the funky sounding keyboards, while they are very good, something just sounds weird about them. This alone will quickly grab you attention and make you interested in the band’s sound. They create nice a atmosphere that sounds very lush, but due to a low production budget they sound a bit too high in the mix. Not that we are complaining, but we just find it a bit odd.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Angrepp – Warfare (2010)

    cover

    Is nice to finally hear some Black/Thrash Metal that is not trying to sound too ‘oldschool’ or too brutal. Angrepp manages to perfectly Thrashy riffs, Punk-ish rhytms, and powerful vocals, creating a very thick sound that will surely please metal fans since the first couple of minutes of this CD.

    The opening song (after the Intro) “Five Horned Formation” wastes no time in establishing that the band’s riff machine is open for serious business. With a very powerful Thrashy opening riff, you will think that you are listening to the new Exodus, or something like that. After the initial impression settles, you will be quickly taken away by the surgically precise drumming that makes your head explode.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Drünken Bastards – Horns of the Wasted (2010)

    cover

    It’s been a while since we have heard a band be as effective in 20 minutes as the Drünken Bastards manage to be with “Horns of the Wasted”. With a brutal mixture of Thrash Metal with Punk elements and a few Black Metal hints here and there, the band does a great job in crafting small, concise, and effective songs that will rock you sideways.

    Release in the USA on Hell’s Headbandgers, “Horns of the Wasted” is a great blast in the past, when bands where still having fun and freely rocking out tunes that mashed up several genres and they did not give a shit if people liked them or not. The overall Punk influences are very high in this release, and in songs like “Alcoholic Big Tits” the band goes all-out Punk on us. But they quickly regain their Metal-form with their cover of Barbatos “Prophecy of the Evening Star”, a song that sounds extremely Heavy Metal for this album.

    • Posted By: Dark Emperor
    • Comments: 0

    Pro-Pain – Absolute Power (2010)

    cover

    Formed in the early nineties, Pro-Pain has been playing their Thrash infused Hardcore since their first release “Foul Taste of Freedom” until now with “Absolute Power”. The band’s style has not changed much over the years and continues to put out solid releases, but we feel that their sound is getting quite old to be honest. “Absolute Power” is yet another one of those good-but-sounds-tired kind of albums that we encounter every month.

    Don’t get us wrong, there is nothing bad about “Absolute Power” the album has over ten songs of catchy riffs, solid vocals and powerful drumming. It’s the similarity to their older stuff what bothers us. Even while listening through this album, you will get the ‘I already heard this’ kind of feeling as the songs keep flowing.

Pages

Recent Image Galleries