Artist: Game Over (It)
Release Title: Burst into the Quiet
Year: 2014
Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Retro Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Masters of Control
2.Seven Doors to Hell
3.The Eyes (of the Mad Gardner)
4.C.H.U.C.K.
5.No More
6.Metropolis Pt.3
7.Trapped Inside Your Mind
8.Nuke 'Em High
9.Burst into the Quiet
Continuing on from their previous release, Italian thrashers Game Over further showcase their love of old-school thrash that was such a part of their debut effort. With original drummer Med departing and being replaced by Anthony "Vender" Dantone, the second album from the group was released June 22, 2014 on Scarlet Records.
As was the case with the first album, this one offers plenty of tightly-wound, intense rhythms that uses charging riff-work and intense patterns bristling with technical rhythms that are paced much like true speed and thrash bands. Packed in tight formations along frantic paces which give this a wide-ranging density layered across the rhythms with a few smartly-placed breakdowns which act as melodic breathers before going back to those more intense rhythms throughout this that make for a lot to really enjoy with the guitar-work. It’s all fast-paced and generates the kind of fiery energy rampant in the genre back in the old-school days where it’s tight riffing fully encapsulates that scene fully, and when added along with the strong drumming and blaring bass-lines it’s a true thrashing blast. On the whole, there’s not a whole lot to really dislike here with what the band is attempting. The basic attack is good enough, but the riff-work is so tightly-wound that there’s no real room to breathe in their arrangements that it simply just makes itself such a blur of utterly frenetic riff-work that there’s just so little to differentiate the tracks from each other. The short running time for each track that packs all of them into the same overall length is another part of that problem, and it does lower this one slightly even with a generally overall impressive attack.
With plenty of enjoyable elements to be found here alongside a few small flaws that do cause this to slip down slightly, there’s enough here that does work to overcome it’s flaws and manages to work incredibly well for revivalist thrash fanatics or most modern thrashers as well.
Artist: Cellador [audio and buy now]
Release Title: Off the Grid
Year: 2017
Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Power/Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Sole Survivors
2.Break Heresy
3.Shadowfold
4.Wake Up the Tyrant
5.Off the Grid
6.Swallow Your Pride
7.Shimmering Status
8.Good Enough
9.This Means War
10.Running Riot
Tormented by an insanely-troubling past, Colorado-based power metallers Cellador have seen themselves beset by label and lineup turmoil that has stunted and very nearly halted the promise shown by their initially-appealing debut work just over a decade prior. Attempting to carry on with a new, solidified lineup, the long-awaited sophomore album was originally released March 10, 2017 on Scarlet Records.
Considering the long layoff, it’s entirely possible to forget what the band was about and to fix that the group manages to fly right out of the gate with what made them so promising in the first place. There’s plenty of tight, fast and frantic thrashing patterns laced with strong melodic accents flowing throughout here, generating the kind of explosive up-tempo power metal rhythms full of aggressive attacks in the rhythm. That goes hand-in-hand with a more stripped down, simplistic approach that generates plenty of fiery, engaging material without the long-winded and aimless approach of their past, streamlining the best tactics into a more substantial and cohesive style of attack that still brings out their best work in propelling plenty of speed and intensity out while displaying top-notch melodic interlaced together for a spectacular and energizing style. Though the epic approach to their past material gave them a somewhat more unique and individualized identity in the field during their initial appearance in the field, the fact is the intervening years and their stripped-down style has now come back against them as it’s turned them into a slightly rehashed and formulaic style without really doing much else about it, but being not only an engaging approach to the material and given the turmoil within the break it’s commendable to be this fiery and enjoyable all things considered.
Already a strong Comeback of the Year contender, this was quite a surprising tactical change in their style that now comes off like a condensed version of their style that will greatly appeal to fans of their original work or the curious to see how they’ve managed to hold up considering their troubles.
Artist: Game Over (It)
Release Title: For Humanity
Year 2012 (2015 re-issue)
Label: My Graveyard Productions (Scarlet Records re-issue)
Genre: Retro Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Abyss of a Needle
2.Dawn of the Dead
3.Mountains of Madness
4.War of Nations
5.Overgrill (El Grillador loco)
6.N.S.A.
7.Bleeding Green
8.Another Dose of Thrash
9.Evil Clutch
10.Tupa Tupa or Die
Re-issue tracklisting:
1.Abyss of a Needle
2.Dawn of the Dead
3.Mountains of Madness
4.War of Nations
5.Overgrill (El Grillador loco)
6.N.S.A.
7.Bleeding Green
8.Another Dose of Thrash
9.Evil Clutch
10.Tupa Tupa or Die
11.Iron Fist (Motörhead cover) (Live)
12.N.S.A/Nuke’em High (Live)
13.Another Dose of Thrash (Live)
Initially formed in 2008, Italian thrashers Game Over quickly formed an attraction to old-school thrash as well as a love for similarly old-school horror films which has been apart of their sound from the beginning. Finally able to get themselves together to the point of releasing their debut album, this was originally released January 16, 2012 on My Graveyard Productions before a reissue February 3, 2015 on new-label Scarlet Records.
In what will become obvious shortly, the band is quite obviously based around revivalist thrash metal which manages to ape the old-school sound quite effectively. Built through tight, charging riff-work full of ravenous, frenzied speed metal patterns that burst with energetic rhythms and enough of a frantic pace that there’s a blistering sense of energy at play here that really works incredibly well. The straightforward riffing approach featured here makes this even more enjoyable with their penchant for frenzied riff-work generating a thick, dense layer of rhythms here that’s so energetic and fiery it’s more than enough to whip into a thrashing holocaust based on how tight and straightforward these sections are. This is a great accomplishment for a band of this age and experience level, accurately aping that style of thrashing quite well, yet regardless of how tight the riffing is or how competently they pay homage to their chosen style it still has some minor flaws. The main issue is the fact that the album’s densely-layered riff-work tends to make this feel way too similar and one-note. There’s no variation in their riff-work at all here so their tight, densely-layered riffing becomes quite of a blur of overly-familiar thrashing for it’s duration and can be quite tiresome as there’s not much difference here throughout the album. Still, this one isn’t all that bad and manages to get a lot right here.
Though not really blessed with the most deviation throughout their attack which tends to really run the album into itself with quite familiar tracks featured here, it’s become such a part of their sound that it’s somewhat tolerable as the more engaging elements here make this one far more enjoyable for revivalist thrash fanatics or old-school thrashers.
Artist: Game Over (It)
Release Title: Crimes Against Reality
Year: 2016
Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Retro Thrash Metal
Tracklisting:
1.Abyss of a Needle
2.Dawn of the Dead
3.Mountains of Madness
4.War of Nations
5.Overgrill (El Grillador loco)
6.N.S.A.
7.Bleeding Green
8.Another Dose of Thrash
9.Evil Clutch
10.Tupa Tupa or Die
Initially formed in 2008, Italian thrashers Game Over quickly formed an attraction to old-school thrash as well as a love for similarly old-school horror films which has been a part of their sound from the beginning. Not really offering much deviation or change-ups, this ripping and energetic third album came out April 1, 2016 from Scarlet Records is yet another incredibly enjoyable and rousing blast of revival-inspired thrash metal from one of the most impressive bands in the style.
As has been the case with their previous albums, this one offers a lot to really enjoy with the guitar-work which is packed with tightly-wound, intense rhythms. These are paced much like true speed and thrash running along in tight formations along frantic paces in that these tracks are played in a boundless sense of energy which makes them work quite nicely. The density layered across the rhythms here makes for quite an effective punch by keeping the entire thing in urgent mode with the exception of a few smartly-placed breakdowns which act as melodic breathers before going back to those more intense rhythms throughout this featuring fiery, spindly-delivered leads along the solo sections while placing just enough melodic crunch in the main sections. These tightly wound rhythms offer plenty to like in terms of raging solos and pounding drum-work to give a really kinetic offering, while there are only a couple things that stick out here. One of those is the fact that there are so many tightly-wound rhythms that the songs are all short, tight thrashers without really getting any room to grow that it never really shows off any variation in its rhythms. A few tracks display technically-complex rhythms but that’s about it in terms of variety as it never takes advantage with its density which results in some reused patterns to keep going along and holds this one up. The other minor bit of contention here is the real lack of unique rhythms throughout, tending to utilize very commonly-used patterns that further the bands’ familiarity rather than uniqueness. This isn’t a detrimental flaw though and doesn’t impact this all too much.
There’s a lot to like here with this enjoyable, energetic release that really doesn’t have a lot wrong here and manages to get a lot of ravenous thrashing in order which makes this an addictive outing overall. Though it can come off a little familiar at times and doesn’t really deviate much from the norm, it still gives off an infectious attitude to make for an enjoyable experience for any thrash fan to enjoy.
Artist: Sadist (It)
Release Title: Hyaena
Year: 2015
Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Progressive Death Metal
Tracklisting:
1.The Lonely Mountain
2.Pachycrocuta
3.Bouki
4.The Devil Riding the Evil Steed
5.Scavenger and Thief
6.Gadawan Kura
7.Eternal Enemies
8.African Devourers
9.Scratching Rocks
10.Genital Mask
The seventh full-length effort from Italian progressive death metallers Sadist continues the bands’ strength of strong, innovative music within the death metal realm. As is the usually the case within their work, the majority of the work here comes from the dynamic and bubbling bass-lines present here, offering a scattering of light, churning rhythms with plenty of complex and utterly challenging arrangements that add a discordant, jazz-like style to the tracks here with their all-over-the-place vibe that does such a spectacular job of playing to the progressive end of the material. Going alongside this technical basswork is the strong, near-avantgarde riff-work that brings along plenty of twisting, challenging riffs that give this one a rather prominent attitude that straddles the two genres by being progressive enough building through avant-garde riffing and patterns. Though this gives the album a strong edge here with all these unique, challenging patterns, it also means that way too much of the film is content to rest on the fence of being just too weird and discordant to really give the fans of traditional death metal much to rest on. There’s plenty of challenging riff-work and complex patterns that often-times comes off with amazing dexterity, but the hollow-ness of the production renders a lot of it with a light, airy feel that’s completely the opposite of the weighty, beefy style of more traditional death metal variants in general but more impactly makes the material seem bland and lifeless as it runs through it’s paces. There’s little thump to the music here, and it’s built to have that here which can wear thin as this goes along. Still, it’s all that really holds this back.
The first half here gives this a solid view of what to expect. Opener ‘The Lonely Mountain’ features a stilted intro before turning into a thumping up-tempo gallop with charging rhythms and dynamic riff-work offering plenty of atmospheric notes alongside the off-kilter arrangements bringing the tight riffing and pounding drumming along through the final half for a strong opener here. ‘Pachycrocuta’ blasts through a series of swirling riffing and thumping drum-work with plenty of stuttering rhythms alongside the complex rhythms leading into the pounding drumming and blaring bass-lines of the solo section keeping the discordant patterns and twisting arrangements along throughout the finale for another enjoyable effort. ‘Bouki’ takes squealing synthesizers and stuttering, start/stop patterns with plenty of blistering rhythms with the discordant, angular patterns twisting through the synthesizers with the rumbling bass-lines making for a swirling series of up-tempo patterns along the charging drumming through the final half for a strong overall highlight. ‘The Devil Riding the Evil Steed’ uses sinister trinkling keyboards eventually leading into the churning riff-work and dynamic drumming against the blaring, bursting bass-lines full of challenging, complex rhythms slowing down for plodding, sluggish solo section and carrying through to the finale for a somewhat enjoyable effort. ‘Scavenger and Thief’ features an assortment of animal noises into an up-tempo series of swirling riffing, ethereal keyboards and stuttering drum-work that drops off for the churning mid-tempo rhythms that continue on through the mid-tempo solo section and churning along into the final half for another enjoyable effort.
The second half plays off as an enjoyable if slightly lesser variation of the first half. Instrumental ‘Gadawan Kura’ offers lush acoustic guitars and plenty of blaring bass-lines as light, plodding tempos weave through the dreamy, melancholic paces before getting up to churning mid-tempo rhythms in the finale that offers a suitable mid-album breather. ‘Eternal Enemies’ uses tight, churning and twisting rhythms swirling through rather up-tempo paces full of dynamic patterns that nicely drop off into a minor atmospheric interlude before turning back into the mid-tempo mixture of swirling patterns and churning rhythms throughout the final half for another strong highlight. ‘African Devourers’ features spacey keyboards over blaring bass-lines and dexterous drumming charging along with the change-over into more technical patterns keeping the buzzing bass-lines in check through the series of churning riffing through the finale for a decent enough track. ‘Scratching Rocks’ features screeching keyboards that turn into a series of discordant riffing with dexterous drumming taking the screeching riff-work with churning rhythmic riffing twisting along through the discordant patterns in the final half for a mostly disappointing and uneven track. Lastly, ‘Genital Mask’ brings in tribal drumming that turns into swirling buzzing bass-lines and stuttering riff-work bringing along plenty of discordant rhythms weaving throughout the extended instrumental buzzing bass-lines with plenty of ethereal rhythms flowing into the finale for another enjoyable effort that ends this on a nice note.
While it does lack a discernable thump that holds it back and might appear too avant-garde for more traditionalists who aren’t that into this kind of technicality and progressive edges, there’s more than enough general talent and wholly enjoyable moments that fans of more adventurous music won’t find a lot to really enjoy here.
