Revenge (Col) - Metal Is: Addiction and Obsession

Artist: Revenge (Col)
Release Title: Metal Is: Addiction and Obsession
Year: 2011 (2017 reissue)
Label: Rata Mutante Records (EBM Records reissue)
Genre: Heavy/Speed Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Intro - Hell Avenger (Let's Go to Hell and There Hail to Satan)
2. Speed Metal to the Bone
3. Plague of Death
4. Metal Rules My Life
5. No Speed Limit for Destruction
6. Addiction and Obsession
7. Satan's Warriors
8. Fire Attack

Holding out strongly in their style, the Colombian speed/heavy metal group under the name Revenge have continually utilized their raging musicianship and boundless energy to become one of the more prominent names in the South American revivalist scene. Fully coming into their own with their full-on attack, the groups’ fourth full-length effort was originally released November 15, 2011 on Rata Mutante Records as well as a series of reissues later on including one February 28, 2017 on EBM Records.

Burning straight out of the gate, the group wastes little time offering more of what made them impressive as there’s a continuing of those elements once again. The basic approach is general traditional metal straight from the old-school glory days, brimming with a tight crunch, thunderous patterns and a solid blending of traditional steel and more melodic fire that bridges this one nicely. The fact that the album then decides to include far more frantic, vicious and downright blazing speed metal passages that are incorporated so well into the attack that there’s a varying dynamic taken here that makes for a rousing and wholly appreciated outcome. There’s a reckless and bombastic energetic presence on the album due to the blazing speed metal rhythms featured here, and its liveliness makes the album rush through in a heap of tight, thrashing sections that are given a great balance here by the more classy-sounding work on the traditional rhythms bouncing along to the tight, frantic speed metal blaring around in the background. Although it does come a little undone with the fact that so much of the album is played in such similar fashion it doesn’t really strike much of a variety between the tracks doesn’t really dilute this one in the slightest as this is so fast and frantic this is easily overlooked.

One of the more enjoyable and truly ferocious old-school homages in the scene in quite a while, this is a truly ripping album given a special boost with some solid bonus tracks in this particular edition to help highlight the fury within and make this a no-doubt inquiry for fans of raging old-school heavy metal or speed metal in general.

Score: 97/100

Does it sound good? Order the reissue from here:
https://ebmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/metal-is-addiction-and-obsession

Detonation (Neth) - Reprisal

Artist: Detonation (Neth)
Release Title: Reprisal
Year: 2011
Label: Self-Released/Independent (Vic Records reissue)
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Enslavement
2. There Is No Turning Back
3. Feeding on the Madness
4. Ruptured
5. Absentia Mentis
6. Washing Away the Blood
7. Falling Prey
8. Insults to My Heritage

Having returned from their hiatus, Dutch melodic death metallers Detonation have put their self-imposed break to use with a continuation of their tried and true style of melodic death and thrash metal accents together into a solid whole. Following a four-year gap between releases, the group originally releases their fourth full-length independently April 2, 2011 before a reissue September 16, 2016 on Vic Records.

For the most part here this one is a rather dynamic and impressive offering of their style which is still quite prominent even after the layoff. Dwelling in plenty of ravenous swirling riff-work and charging patterns that add a nice quality of energetic material to the proceedings, there’s a melodic bent to these rhythms by placing a series of lighter rhythms to the main patterns here. Dragging plenty of choppy thrash-style riffing along the way and using that to augment the rather prominent melodic dirges, there’s a solid energy present here which is all balanced out by the rather strong mid-tempo plodding paces featured here which manage to generate the kind of solid, workable features needed to accent the melodic firepower to it’s greatest degree by keeping the atmosphere at a consistent tone to be able to introduce it’s melodic accents at finely-chosen levels. This does result in the album feeling way too simplistic and one-dimensional at times, negating a lot of these positives in order to keep this one at a rather constant placing so that it can keep the melodic accents firmly in tune with the rest of the album’s rumbling rhythms. Likewise, there’s a lot of rather rudimentary riffing and simplistic patterns that are prominent in the first half here which are thankfully improved upon in the later half which are much more enjoyable overall with a better sense of dynamics, and these here hold this one back somewhat.

Though there’s a lot to really like overall here, there’s a couple of minor problematic issues which are found throughout this one which does lower this one enough here which causes this to come off mostly for the most devout proponent of melodic death metal or fans of the bands’ previous work as well.

Score: 78/100

Does it sound good? Order it from here:
http://vicrecords.com/shop/index.php?id_product=84&controller=product