Vader - The Empire

Artist: Vader
Release Title: The Empire
Year: 2016
Label: Nuclear Blast
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Angels of Steel
2. Tempest
3. Prayer to the God of War
4. Iron Reign
5. No Gravity
6. Genocidius
7. The Army-Geddon
8. Feel My Pain
9. Parabellum
10. Send Me Back to Hell

Still leading the genre to the fullest, Polish death/thrash legends Vader has been leading their genre’s charge for the better part of their near forty-year existence by churning out some of the most consistent and explosively enjoyable work around. Never one to take a rest following a slew of releases, compilations and even an EP earlier in the year, the groups’ tenth true full-length of original music was released November 4, 2016 on Nuclear Blast.

From the onset of their career the band has delved between two distinct styles in their music, and for the most part what’s featured here is the less-prominent aspect of their sound. The vast majority of the tracks here are all about the tight, churning thrash style rhythms of their sound, flying through furious non-stop riff-work and utterly pummeling energy that goes for the intensity and anger side of their sound rather than opt for the sprawling mid-tempo gallops. Rather, the music here is tight, short and to-the-point in it’s charging intensity, relying on the groups’ penchant for twisting through varying rhythms for its variety here that gives this a mostly thrash-based assault than most other offerings in their history. As this ends up being the dominant factor for the music here, it leaves a profound display of aggression and energy here by going through these dynamic paces and really drowns out the epic aspects of their sound here. These efforts are placed more on the sidelines of the album in favor of the tight, vicious thrashing on display which is where this one really suffers slightly with the slower, sprawling efforts taken out for these shorter bursts of thrash that it makes the album feel much too brief as the running time is noticeable with the short, blistering intensity featured here being just too obvious with the vast majority of the album being under three minutes so when it goes beyond it’s all the more obvious. Still, that alone is all that’s wrong here which isn’t really all that detrimental at all.

With the only real problem here being quite a laughable flaw that’s really the epitome of grasping at straws, that factor should be expected from a band this consistent and enjoyable as this vicious, furious slab of thrashing-tinged death metal will go down a storm with fans of their past work, death/thrash in general or those curious about the bands’ longevity and need a fine entry point into their catalog.

Score: 95/100

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Abscendent - Decaying Human Condition

Artist: Abscendent
Release Title: Decaying Human Condition
Year: 2016
Label: Revalve Records
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Penance
2. Solipsia
3. Compelled
4. Doppelgänger
5. Nausea

Formed in 2013, Italian thrash/death metallers Abscendent have steadily honed their craft with a multitude of intense rehearsals and live dates that has brought their sound to it’s fullest. With the three-piece able to deliver their thrashing intensity to it’s fullest, the group’s debut release comes out May 4, 2016 on Revalve Records.

Being part of the more modern experience of the tropes, there’s some solid and engaging work to be had here with the band really laying it on thick in regards to the thick, violent riff-work. This one has some rather frantic and furious patterns on display throughout here, ranging from tight, ravenous mid-tempo groove riff-work to a more sprawling series of rhythms that are more a part of classic thrash/death metal groups and manages to do an incredibly fun job mixing these two styles together quite well. The violent stuttering patterns and the classic sprawling rhythms go together very well in regards to mixing it up and providing the kind of jagged thrashing framework into a cohesive whole that’s wholly enjoyable and engaging with a whole lot of explosive sections changing over from a tight chug into a more frantic, furious section loaded with blazing thrash segments, and overall that leaves this with plenty of enjoyable elements. It’s quite short and doesn’t really give itself a lot of opportunities to really let loose with it’s style as the album’s really only basing its variety on the progressively-minded rhythms and it doesn’t get much else of a chance to accomplish that with only five tracks. Though it has a lot of material to work through in that time-span, it’s just way too short and doesn’t really provide much else here with the short running time. Overall, though, it’s all this one has going against it with plenty of otherwise enjoyable elements.

Despite not really giving itself much of a chance with the shortened running order that keeps the album feeling quite short and over too quickly for it’s own good, there’s still plenty to like and enjoy about this one that it’s a solid, worthwhile inquiry for those looking for some enjoyably modern and engaging death/thrash metal without too many hang-ups about it.

Score: 82/100

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Mortuary (Fr) - Nothingless than Meaningless

Artist: Mortuary (Fr)
Release Title: Nothingless than Meaningless
Year: 2016
Label: Gorgeous Productions
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Only Dead Witness
2. Empty
3. Tube
4. Above
5. Pleasuffering
6. U-Man Splet, K-Os Crawled
7. Yesterdead
8. K
9. Morbid Existence
10. Kingdom

From the beginning back in the 80s, French death/thrashers Mortuary have steadily created a framework that makes them one of the unsung and underrated efforts in the style with plenty of rather fun times in their discography. With this being the last recorded output featuring guitarist Paul before his leaving the band, their fifth full-length effort released January 8, 2016 on Gorgeous Productions shows the band at the height of their powers after a six-year break between releases.

For the majority of the album’s running time, this here is a truly ferocious and relentless death/thrash offering showing a decidedly energetic and rousing thrash attack with simplistic riff-work and tight rhythms galloping along here. This is a really engaging and rousing effort with the explosive tempo changes forcing this into an endless series of simple thrashing riff-work and a focused intensity on charging along at the fastest possible tempo throughout here which really helps to make for a strong and confident attack. That’s apparent when the band slips in slightly down-tempo rhythms that takes on a rather sluggish cadence with the deep, churning groove-styled patterns that gives it a death metal touch with it’s rather frantic thrashing madness alongside the material here for some rather impressive dynamics and variances in the arrangements to further make for a wholly appealing effort. The fact that there’s such a one-sided attack throughout here does end up leaving this one with the impression that it really only knows one trick since it manages to feature not too much differences in terms of it’s overall approach and style beyond merely dropping the tempos which it does nicely but can get lost in the shuffle for those unfamiliar with this approach. There’s little need for that to be an issue, as the material is quite impressive and enjoyable for the most part.

Despite popping up with a somewhat minor and rather useless flaw for the most part, this here is one of the better releases not only of the genre but also in their catalog as their consistency and competence makes for an album that will appeal to any fan of old-school death or thrash metal as well as any fan of the bands’ previous works.

Score: 94/100

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Omnicide (Swiss) - Constants and Variables

Artist: Omnicide (Swiss)
Release Title: Constants and Variables
Year: 2016
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Failure to Die
2. Municipal Holocaust
3. Welcome to Misery
4. Knowledge Is Ignorance
5. In Burial Clouds
6. Molotov Cocktail Party
7. Leviathan
8. Tod u Hass
9. Convinced by Superior Firepower
10. Dalai BlaBla

Formed in 2010, the Swiss death/thrashers using the name Omnicide immediately unleashed a demo that sets the stage for a debut that arrived two years later. Now four years after this release, the group unleashes their self-released second collection of tight, crunchy death-laced thrash metal on April 1, 2016.

Overall the album manages to generate the kind of mostly mid-tempo style work that mixes these two particular genres together, offering a rather vicious crunchy throughout here. Taking tight, technical thrash leanings and the swirling rhythms here that give the music an overall strong thrash identity, it gets balanced out rather nicely with the a blasting death metal vibe offering plenty of short, blasting breakdowns which evoke far more modern brutal death metal work than true thrash bands. By opting for a slightly more groove-based chug in these sections, it changes away from the thrash sections into more of a Deathcore-styled attack with the emphasis on swirling -core riffing featured alongside these tight thrashy patterns. This is quite a fun overall attack with a lot of overall effective moments, but does tend to feature a somewhat troubling element here. By adding a strong Deathcore style series of riff-work into these thrash-laced patterns, it causes this come off with a seriously stilted series of tempos and paces here that’s quite discordant and rather puzzling. Rather than go in for the more cohesive collection of material that’s normally expected of such inclusions it seems to stutter and trip over itself by slowing the tempos down unnecessarily which results in tracks which usually have great elements to them but hardly remain consistently enjoyable all throughout in order to really maximize their potential.

Though it somewhat stumbles at times with the different paces and rather clunky rhythm changes that appear throughout here, the basic attack is still a vicious, hard-hitting effort that manages to work overall well\-enough to make this an appealing-if-unessential listen for fans of the hard-hitting death/thrash mixtures usually found in the genre.

Score: 77/100

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Ragestorm - A Thin Line Between Hope and Ruin

Artist: Ragestorm
Release Title: A Thin Line Between Hope and Ruin
Year: 2013 (2016)
Label: Self-Released/Independent (Sliptrick Records reissue)
Genre: Death/Thrash Records
Tracklisting:
1. The Meatgrinder Theory
2. Debt Ritual
3. Polysilicotetrapropryvinylfluorethalene
4. Moloch
5. Idiocracy
6. Acid Tears
7. Interlude: Hari Seldon's Speech (feat. The Boylerz)
8. The Thin Line Between Hope and Ruin
9. Soldiers of a Lost War
10. New World Disorder
11. Reaching the Impossible

The debut full-length from Italian death/thrashers Ragestorm shows the effects of a band in such a situation while also offering plenty of promise for what’s to come in their career. For the most part this one carries along the type of melody-infused riff-work that seems to play through that style without any deviation. Switching between tight chugging and extra-sloppy swirling melodic runs in the guitar-work, there’s a pretty simplistic energy attributed to the tracks here that occasionally brings up some fire from time-to-time, though the majority of this one gets stuck with those chugging rhythms holding the paces down in the mid-tempo for the most part. These tend to feature so many rather bland and plodding rhythms that they’re wholly lifeless at worst, while the best effort about them is that they’re decent-if-unspectacular. This applies to an overwhelming majority of the album as well, which tends to leave this staggeringly overdone and seemingly just filler material on the whole. Even more to the point there’s a wholly unneeded and just plain needless interlude to the album which is a droning and endless industrial collage that plays over a sampled speech that’s just pointless and seemingly included for no real reason which makes this a deviation to the whole effort since this one doesn’t bring up the points in the speech overall and the whole thing is just such a painful experience. This pointlessness of this really showcases the early point of the bands’ career at the fullest and should not be continued in the future.

The first half here is decent enough if not all that impressive. Opener ‘The Meatgrinder Theory’ features a sampled chainsaw reviving intro leading into driving drumming and stellar riff-work through the steady mid-tempo series of riff-work through a fine charge as the soaring melodic leads carry through the solo section and bringing the tight chugging through the final half for a solid opening effort. ‘Debt Ritual’ brings tight, crunchy riffing and blistering drumming churning along through a frantic, mid-tempo pace with plenty of slight chugging rhythms and steady riffing carrying along through the stuttering main patterns carrying into the solo section and working through into the finale for a somewhat decent if overall unimpressive effort. The short and brutal ‘Polysilicotetrapropryvinylfluorethalene’ features immediate blasting drumming and rather frantic swirling riff-work charging along at butal, blistering charging patterns with the choppy rhythms leading to the tight, driving final half for a rather enjoyable effort for the album’s clear highlight. ‘Moloch’ features light acoustic riffing amid crackling noise before quickly turning into a simple, straightforward plodding chugging series of riff-work with plenty of pounding drumming keeping the simplistic elements firmly along through the utterly ferocious finale for an impressive finish to a bland effort previously. ‘Idiocracy’ takes churning drumming and swirling riff-work through the mid-tempo chugging paces with simplistic rhythms and frantic patterns churning along with the chugging riff-work leading along to the fiery solo section and bringing the energy back into the final half for a decent if unspectacular effort. ‘Acid Tears’ immediately blasts through frantic razor-wire riff-work with plenty of solid swirling patterns charging along through the simplistic paces charging along into the dynamic, fiery solo section and carrying the straightforward rhythms along throughout the finale for a rather enjoyable effort.

The second half isn’t that bad and manages to make for a far more impressive effort. ‘Interlude: Hari Seldon's Speech’ features a sampled speech over a droning industrial sound collage that doesn’t in the slightest bit need to be there and really just eats up time on the album overall. The title track takes militaristic pounding drumming and simple chugging rhythms that swirl around through rather tepid plodding paces with the occasional flurry of stellar melodic leads that whip along through the fiery solo section and continue swirling along through the melodic chugging patterns in the final half for a solid if generally decent effort. ‘Soldiers of a Lost War’ takes heavy melodic riffing over a gradual build-up style drumming that leads to the simplistic chugging riff-work bringing along the simplistic charging rhythms with plenty of rather dynamic, dexterous drum-work bringing along a sense of energy on through the finale for another wholly unimpressive effort. ‘New World Disorder’ uses thumping riff-work and charging drumming carrying along through the swirling frantic rhythms with plenty of melodic charging flying along through the stylized twisting rhythms that lead along through the solo section and bringing the tight chugging into the final half for a decent-enough effort overall. Lastly, album-clsoer ‘Reaching the Impossible’ takes frantic swirling riff-work and plenty of chugging patterns whipping along through the frantic up-tempo rhythms whipping along through the rather dynamic stuttering patterns holding along through the charging solo section and leading into the extended soulful piano finale for a somewhat enjoyable lasting impression.

While the band is clearly still going through the learning curve when it comes to their style and energy, there’s enough elements at play here to work with in the future that it could serve them well whenever they carry on which leaves this one still only for the most devout fans of the style as a whole at this point.

Score: 64/100

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Cadaveric Poison - Cadaveric Poison

Artist: Cadaveric Poison
Release Title: Cadaveric Poison
Year: 2016
Label: Metal-on-Metal Records
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Track;listing:
1. Cadaveric
2. The Few
3. Rollover
4. Fight for Evil
5. Forfeit the Race
6. Never Put All Your Stones in One Basket
7. Face the Whore
8. Bombs Away
9. Violence Breeds Violence
10. Poison

The self-titled debut from International death/thrash supergroup Cadaveric Poison offers a lot of exceptionally strong work overall that makes them a potential powerhouse in the genre. This here is mostly all about simplistic, straightforward riffing featuring low, deep rhythm patterns creating a dark, heavy atmosphere that permanently dwells over the entire release emanating from the riff-work. There’s a certain dynamic spreading throughout the album as the cause of the straightforward, simplistic patterns keeps this charging along at pretty frantic, strong up-tempo paces that are far more enjoyable when it really lets loose with these arrangements as the heavy thrashing melds together incredibly well with the primitive death metal riff-work. Off-set by the ability to drop into a stellar mid-tempo sprawl that still maintains that evil, dark atmosphere for a sense of variety, this all makes this a wholly enjoyable and cohesive effort which does manage to highlight the one big flaw throughout here. The fact that the material does come off with a cohesive sound that it feels awfully familiar quite quickly here as it goes about doling out it’s attack which rarely deviates from either pattern throughout here. Considering the chance this had to really let loose if it did something about having both an intro and outro that would have provided more chances to deviate somewhat, but overall this one still doesn’t come off that bad with the enjoyment on offer here with how it executes the material/

The first half sets up this one’s work incredibly well. The instrumental intro ‘Cadaveric’ uses a haunting, ominous series of chords setting the stage for proper first-track ‘The Few’ ripping through pounding drumming and simplistic thrashing riff-work through raging tempos with swirling intense rhythms holding the raw, dirty rhythms along through the onslaught of tight riffing and a strong series of thumping, mid-tempo paces into the solo section leading into the raging final half for a spectacular, rousing opening effort. ‘Rollover’ features tight, swirling thrashing riffing and pounding drumming rolling through intense tempos as the series of sprawling, slow-down riffing makes for a fine segue into a rolling, blistering series of thrashing riff-work leading into the solo section and continuing through the blistering finale for another strong effort. ‘Fight for Evil’ immediately takes on thumping mid-tempo charging with infectious riffing and pounding, simplistic drumming thumping along through the steady paces keeping the simplistic rhythms along throughout the solo section and carrying through the steady final half for a truly enjoyable highlight offering. ‘Forfeit the Race’ uses a sprawling series of riffing before settling on thumping drumming and ravenous swirling thrash rhythms carrying the steady riffing along into the dexterous drumming and holding the steady thrashing riffing along through the blistering solo section and continuing through the finale for another solid, enjoyable track.

The second half stumbles a tad but still has a lot to like here. ‘Never Put All Your Stones in One Basket’ features rattling mid-tempo riffing and straightforward drumming running through a fine mid-tempo pace with plenty of rattling rhythms carrying the steady pace along through the steady paces leading into the solo section and carrying through the final half for a decent and solid track. ‘Face the Whore’ takes a steady, sprawling extended lead-in and melodic leads that turns into a rattling swarm of up-tempo thrashing riffing alongside the rattling drumming that continually pounds along to it’s simplistic charging pace into the solo section and on through the blistering finale for a rather dynamic and impressive effort. ‘Bombs Away’ uses a steady fade-in that works through a fine mid-tempo series that keeps the steady, straightforward riffing along through the deep, rattling patterns and plodding drumming that carries the steady rhythms leading into the solo section and keeping the plodding pacing intact through the final half for a still-decent-if-obviously-weakest track on here. ‘Violence Breeds Violence’ immediately blasts through the steady riffing and churning drum-work carrying the straightforward patterns along through the intense patterns leading through the furious riffing thrashing along through the solo section and keeping the intensity raging through the finale for another utterly strong track. Lastly, album-closing instrumental ‘Poison’ takes the sampled noises and ominous build-up into the light fade-out makes for a fine lasting impression as it ends this nicely.

While it does misstep a bit from time-to-time, there’s still a whole lot of enjoyable elements featured here that makes this a wholly worthwhile example of this genre that sounds ripe and ready for fans of the members’ other projects or for those who enjoy this rattling, primitive-sounding death metal variant.

Score: 90/100

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Runa (Pe) - Bullets of Annihilation EP

Artist: Runa (Pe)
Release Title: Bullets of Annihilation EP
Year: 2015
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1. Lustful Death
2. Bullets of Annihilation
3. Whispers of the Past
4. Evil Rites
5. Pest

The debut EP from Peruvian death/thrash metal newcomers Runa is a decidedly offers a rather fun and enjoyable take on the old-school scene that showcases their homeland nicely. As with the majority of the South American extreme metal scene, this here is drenched in raw, old-school death metal rhythms that are played rather frantically and intensely in toughened thrash environments which makes the music that much more energetic and lethal which gives off the kind of dirty, thumping vibe with the riff-work a big part of that. Taking stylistically simple-but-engaging riffing and dynamic, thumping rhythms that drives along at great speeds with the occasional drop-off into churning mid-tempo rhythms for select intervals, it makes for enough variety alongside the old-school style to create a wholly impressive attack here. It does run into a rather minor issue here where the material comes off like a rather rudimentary styled South American old-school death metal band for as vicious as it gets in it’s attack there’s little else original about the music throughout here. It runs through a lot of familiar arrangements and patterns that come into play for numerous other groups in this style with the raw working style featuring simplistic rhythms and can make the band blend into that whole scene very easily. As well, the shortness comes into play with this one not even running twenty minutes long with all the tracks barely over three minutes when a little more could’ve made this a lot of fun. It’s still enjoyable enough with these issues though.

On the whole there’s a lot to like here. Opener ‘Lustful Death’ runs through furious drumming and tight thrashing riffing blazing with fiery leads blazing alongside the rather frantic rhythms leading into the sprawling melodic sections toning down the rumbling rhythms before picking them back up leading into the driving final half for an impressive and dynamic opening effort. The title track takes a steady intro with dynamic dexterous drumming settling on a frenetic series of mid-tempo thrashing riffing full of explosive up-tempo patterns and pounding drum-rhythms keeping the steady up-tempo riffing driving along throughout the solo section and carrying the energetic riffing on through the finale for another impressive highlight effort. ‘Whispers of the Past’ slowly builds from a gradual intro into a steady mid-tempo marching gallop with steady rhythms and dexterous drumming flowing through a steady mid-tempo pace with tight riffing leads sweeping through a more energetic series of patterns in the final half for a decent and enjoyable effort. ‘Evil Rites’ features steady drum-work building alongside the sprawling riffing into ravenous drumming and screeching thrash riff-work dive-bombing throughout the frantic, urgent rhythms leading into the solo section and rumbling along to the blasting drumming into the finale for another solid and engaging effort. Finally, ‘Pest’ uses steady pounding drumming and build-up riffing to lead into blasting drum-work and scorching thrash riffing with plenty of energetic rhythms running along throughout the blasting patterns leading through the solo section and keeping the rhythms charging into the final half for an enjoyable lasting impression here.

Though it gives off the hints of its homeland far too often and seems just a touch on the short side, there’s plenty to enjoy about this release and gives this the kind of appeal in the years to come from those that love the South American style of death and/or thrash metal as this seems like a promising band to follow in the years to come.

Score: 83/100

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Agony Divine - March of the Divine

Band: Agony Divine
Release Title: March of the Divine
Label: Self-Released/Independent
Year: 2015
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
Tracklist:
1. Heaven's Hive
2. False Hope
3. March of the Divine
4. Streets of Terror
5. No Forgiveness
6. Denial
7. Manipulation
8. Stained With Grief
9. Wither
10. Bonus

The debut full-length from these North Carolina death metallers may not be the most enjoyable variation on the style but is a decent enough mixture of Death Metal and rocking, punk-ish Thrash that is enough to make for an entertaining diversion if necessary. The simplistic tone of the material here is quite apparent, usually relying on two or three rousing mid-tempo riffs with a lot of sprawling Grunge-sounding sections that just sound like directionless masses of chords and rhythms without really doing a whole lot to really align itself one way or another into either genre with plenty of consistent marks here as there’s a lot more alternative work throughout here with these sprawling, noisy sections and far more insistent use of clean vocals than either genre readily accompanies. The riffing is simple Death Metal-styled rhythms and patterns played at mid-tempo Thrash-like force while offering up sprawling sections that don’t really seem connected either way around which makes for a disjointed work here with these thrashy rhythms and hard-charging riffs being quite enjoyable only for the slower, plodding efforts to really make no sense and seem somewhat out-of-place here. Though nothing is really a detriment in itself, it’s really more the jarring way they come in that makes this somewhat stand-out, and against the simplistic nature of the rest of the material is really what makes it stick. Otherwise there’s a somewhat decent effort here.

The first half here does make for a rather straightfoward take of the album. Intro ‘Heaven's Hive’ is a nice little bit of cheerful singing and apocalyptic war-noises coming together to lead into ‘False Hope’ taking a raging riff with plenty of intense tremolo rhythms thrashing into the rather charging mid-tempo section which offers plenty of furious leads and dynamic rhythms that carries on throughout here for an impressive opener. The title track gets a droning intro with a stuttering start/stop rhythm that carries a rocking punkish feel to the loose rhythms and near spoken vocals that follow along a series of bland riff-work before kicking back into full throttle rhythms into the later half which is much more enjoyable than what came before. ‘Streets of Terror’ goes charging through a much more energetic pace with some punk-ish thrashing rhythms and a dynamic bit of drum-blasts that are fine enough for the diversionary riffing to again crop up that sounds quite out-of-place on the more thrashing material elsewhere here.

The second half here doesn't really change this up much. The blaring blasts of ‘No Forgiveness’ turn into a raucous thrashy mixture which is quite adept at holding the other elements at bay with the rather furious tempo kept up throughout here as the tempo shifts are off-set with the hard-charging riffs and pounding drumming that makes this one of the most consistent and enjoyable efforts. ‘Denial’ brings some intensity as well with a wieldy intro that delves into a solid mid-tempo crunch that manages to stay within the same pretty consistent approach elsewhere and doesn’t really stand out all that much from the others here. ‘Manipulation’ offers some impressive tremolo rhythms and rocking tempos bringing along some thoroughly rousing energy along the way with the most explosive riff and plenty of pounding drumming that makes for another fine highlight here. ‘Stained With Grief’ brings a rather mid-tempo choppy rhythms that settles out into another raucous series of rhythms that’s continued throughout here quite nicely with the additional running time here allowing this one to get more enjoyable as it carries on. ‘Wither’ offers a rather tired mid-tempo chug throughout the simplistic series of mid-range sprawling riffs that keep the charging riff-work confined to the second half with a sense of blandness that doesn’t overcome the first half which keeps this one down significantly. The ‘Bonus’ song here is a thoroughly confusing sing-a-long chant that doesn’t seem the slightest bit interesting on a Death Metal record and there’s little about it that’s appealing, leaving for a bad taste overall.

While this isn’t the greatest first impression made as this is just too flawed to be much better than this decent-enough tag it has, there’s certainly room for improvement here.

Score: 70/100

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