ALBUM REVIEW: Warbringer – Wrath and Ruin


Spring is coming to the Northern Hemisphere as the temperatures start to rise. The bar for the coveted Album of the Year continues to rise as more music is released weekly. Thrash stalwarts, Warbringer, take their shot at the crown with their seventh full-length, Wrath and Ruin (Napalm Records). Each album the California-based group releases builds upon their last release, continuously pushing the boundaries of their brand of thrash metal. For forty minutes, John Kevill and company command your attention as their riff-powered tank tramples the mangled corpses of the fallen.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Destruction – Birth Of Malice


As if the past forty years hadn’t flown by quickly enough for German thrash titans Destruction, it’s already time to move forward from the anniversary celebrations of 2023 and get back to the bread and butter of studio recordings. On their sixteenth full-length release (fifteenth if you ignore 1988’s anomalous The Least Successful Human Cannonball), Birth of Malice (Napalm Records), the band’s founder member Marcel “Schmier” Schirmer looks to the past, present, and future for inspiration, reminiscing over old times as well delivering warnings and observations of a more contemporary nature.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Hirax – Faster Than Death


Google “Hyrax.” 

Go ahead. I’ll wait. 

That little guy sure was cute, wasn’t he (or she)?  

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ALBUM REVIEW: Stress Test – Stress Test


The more uncertain the times, the more violent the reaction. A point proven in the eighties with the explosion of Hardcore and Thrash, and this self-titled debut by Oregon act Stress Test is like taking a step back into that time. A time when everyday existence meant the fear of war, disease and hate; a time when religion and politics were even more corrupt and depraved than certain types of criminals. The sad thing is though, you only have to spend thirty seconds watching the TV or doomscrolling through your news feed to see history repeating itself, only worse and often in more insidious ways.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Laceration – I Erode


See-sawing from old-school Death Metal to ferocious Thrash Metal, Laceration pack nine tracks into I Erode (20 Buck Spin), showcasing both proficient musicianship and in-sync performances.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Holycide – Towards Idiocracy


Having passed away during the nineties, the once thriving Thrash Metal scene didn’t stay dead for long and the early aughts saw a gradual, but noticeable shift back to life. By 2004, the genre’s overdue re-animation was in full swing and a slew of new acts crawled out of the crypt, desperate to make an impression on the next generation of thrashers.Continue reading


ALBUM REVIEW: Exhorder – Defectum Omnium


After returning from hiatus with the rather good comeback album Mourn The Southern Skies in 2019, New Orleans Thrash Metal legends Exhorder are at it again with new album Defectum Omnium (Nuclear Blast Records) – thankfully not making us wait another twenty-seven years. Continue reading


REVIEWS ROUNDUP: ft. Sadus – Cruciamentum – Cryptworm – Phobocosm – Walking Corpse


As the days grow ever shorter and the year creaks to an end, Matt Cook ventures into the subterranean in search of death (metal) and depravity to warm his decomposing cockles… 

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ALBUM REVIEW: Guilt Trip – Severance


 

There’s just something about the last handful of years and releases that are classified as either crossover Thrash or Metallic Hardcore that absolutely kills it. Moreso, when an album drops that has a mix of both of these subgenres, like the UK-based Guilt Trip, it’s just everything you want out of aggressive music on a bad day. With that, unleashed onto the world is Severance (via Malevolence’s label, MLVLTD), Guilt Trip’s sophomore full-length, an album that puts you through the grinder and spits you out for thirty-four minutes.

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EP REVIEW: Chupacabra – Fortified With Ashes


 

Chupacabra is an interesting name for a Thrash/Death Metal band. I’m honestly surprised it hasn’t been taken for a band already. Perhaps the band may tour with Thrashsqatch in the future, perhaps call it; Into the Crypt with the Cryptids. 

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