Holy shite, this is a feisty and fiery one! One of the most successful “project” bands in recent memory, Goatwhore has come roaring back, filled with piss, bile and cayenne peppers on album five, Blood for the Master. This is nasty, blackened death/thrash from the most stagnant bayou of the Big Easy and it’s the musical equivalent of a gator attack. Featuring former members of Crowbar, Acid Bath and Nachtmystium, Goatwhore is professional, single-minded and out to punish mankind. Although they started as an American take on Norwegian black metal like Darkthrone, they’ve since settled into life as a drooling, chomping, black/death/thrash beast. While their past few albums have been a bit samey at times, they were always fun in a berserk, foaming at the mouth kinda way. Blood for the Master continues in the same direction as 2009′s Carving Out the Eyes of God but feels a bit more intense and well thought out. It hits like a nuclear howitzer from Hades with thirty-eight minutes of face melting ugliness and malevolent swagger. There are lots of  nods to the classic Bay Area thrash sound, some black n’ roll, classic death riffing and ice-cold, hyper-kinetic trem-abuse. What makes this so entertaining is the odd biker rock vibe Goatwhore manages to impart to the mach-speed chaos. Its hard to explain, but this sounds like black/death as done by a southern rock lovin, greasy biker gang and it works. While this ends up more of a thrash album than a black or death metal opus, it retains enough of an icy black heart to keep most frowners frowning happily (is that possible?). While it doesn’t differ much from what Skeletonwitch has done on the past few albums, its harder, meaner and way more convincing.

Of the ten tracks, nine blaze away with manic fury and seething hostility. “Collapse of Eternal Worth” gets the spiked ball rolling with an almost punk rock take on black metal that reminds me of the first Corrosion of Conformity album but with way more hate. The riffs are urgent and some are quite powerful. The vocals lurch from guttural death croaks to blackened rasps. “When Steel Meets Bone” is really a Bay Area thrash number with hints of vintage Exciter in the riffing and tempo. “An End to Nothing” borrows extensively from the Great Book of Slayer, including the frenzied,  whammy-intensive solos.

The most “black” of the tracks is the epic and evil “Judgment of the Bleeding Crown,” which sounds like top-notch Belphegor. The riffing locks in perfectly with the rolling drums and it sounds like an unstoppable juggernaut of doom. Likewise, “Beyond the Spell of Discontent” trots out some nicely frigid trem leads before settling into a straight thrash style. Only “In Deathless Tradition” stumbles and feels underwhelming with a more mid-pace grinding attack (it has a nifty solo).

Blood for the Master lives or dies by the strength of the axe mastery of Sammy Duet and fortunately, he’s up to the challenge. There are a lot of crisp, quality riffs here, of the black, death and thrash variety. His solos are also impressive and span several styles and approaches (my favorite coming at 2:15 during “Parasitic Scriptures of the Sacred Word”). Ben Falgoust’s vocals are diverse and mostly well done. Though he uses less of his pure black rasp this time, his death croaks are good and his screams sound genuinely painful (though he sounded better on earlier albums). I was very impressed with the drumming of Zack Simmons. The man can bash and crash and he really adds a lot of the fun to the mix.

Speaking of mix, the production by Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) is a big factor in the success of Blood for the Master. The drum sound is huge and organic and the guitars sound pulverizing and unstoppable. This isn’t a trembly, tinny low-fi product by any means. Its got a huge low-end rumble and will shake you out of your socks with a wall of nasty sound.

Goatwhore isn’t re-writing any books on metal or doing anything unique, but their frantic, blitzkrieg approach to black/death is a winning recipe with loads of cajun awesome sauce. This is an blast of pure metal insanity and manages to be both extreme and memorable. Like having a rabid pitbull in your pants; its gonna get you moving and shaking. Get on the goat and ride…to glory!!

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Wolfen. Never did I hear of them. As the album title suggests, they have three prior releases, yet the mighty Eye of Steel Druhm (like Sauron’s but more bloodshot) never spied them as they skulked through the Germanic underground. I don’t like that, since stealth wolfens are my least favorite kind of wolfen. Regardless, Chapter IV is their first album since 2006 (obstensibly because they were too busy hiding from The Eye to record anything). If this one is any indication of what the earlier platters had to offer, its perplexing they didn’t get more notoriety. They play a style that walks the line between traditional metal and thrash. It also has plenty of that ”Germanic” vibe we all love so much. Their sound comes closest to Angel Dust, especially during their Bleed era, but there are also references to Accept, Grave Digger and Brainstorm. Chapter IV offers some rockin but accessible songs, and unfortunately, a few pedestrian ditties as well. Thankfully, Wolfen hits more often than they miss and this is a solid, enjoyable dose of ballsy, no frills metal with several memorable moments.

Things start smashingly with a series of quality numbers designed to get the blood angered up and pumping. The first six songs are all well done stompers and “D.F.A.I.T” and “The One” are highly addicting after only a few spins. There’s loads of aggressive, manly riffing, thunderous drums and typically rough-hewn, Germanic vocals. Good choruses, good song structures, they have it all down. Even when they slow things down for the grinding “Hole in the Sky,” it works well (largely due the vocals). It isn’t until the middle segment that things go a bit off track with some undercooked material like the comparatively bland “Unbroken” and the frightfully maudlin power-ballads “Dolor Mundis”and “Birmingham 6.” Now, I love me some cheesy power-ballads and I’m as quick as the next bloke to bust out the lighter and wave hands in the air. However, these two just don’t work and come across as awkward and weak, despite some respectable vocals. Seems Steel Druhm will be looking elsewhere for his cheese-ballad needs. Things recover nicely with stormers “Soul Collector” and “White Chapel,” both go for the throat and kick a fair amount of booty (“Soul Collector” has a particularly big, memorable chorus).

The vocals of Andreas von Lipinski are the big draw here. He isn’t the most talented singer but he knows how to sell a metal song. His style is similar to Dirk Thurisch of Angel Dust and more often than not, his delivery elevates the material. The guitars from Bjorn Gruen and Frank Noras are dependable and effective but not very technical. They throw some decent riffs at you, some in a more classic vein, others more aggressive and thrashy, but there isn’t a lot of flair on display. The solos are mostly underwhelming and simplistic but fit the songs decently enough. If you need your tuneage to feature Yngwie-style noodle mongering or neo-classical showboatery, you will be sorely disappointed here. Musical shortcomings aside, this pack possesses above average songwriting skill and most of the tracks have hooky little details that help them stick and makes this a sleeper hit of sorts.

A surprisingly catchy, engaging opus,  Chapter IV mauled me sufficiently to trigger a hunt for their earlier stuff. If you like aggressive but melodic metal, this is well worth a try. Though I’m still not sure how Wolfen acquired a Predator style invisi-cloak, it matters not! I see them now and I’ll be watching, watching with a steely gaze.

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2. Flotsam and Jetsam – The Cold Review
3. U.D.O – Rev-Raptor Review

Here’s something slightly different for us here at Angry Metal Guy Worldwide Industries. Vise Massacre is a Brooklyn-based hardcore/punk-thrash power trio and Expendable Humans is their debut full-length (a very short one at thirty-one minutes). Although it’s fairly thrashy and abrasive, there’s no mistaking that this is pure hardcore with similarities to vets of the past like Cryptic Slaughter, Cro-Mags and Sick of It All. It’s all short bursts of fast, chunky punk rage, with most songs (fourteen of em) clocking in at, or under, two minutes. There are some decent riffs scattered about and some really aggressive, herky-jerky, pissed-off material, but sadly, not much here really interests or grabs me in the slightest. Now, let’s be clear. I’m not anti-hardcore at all. In fact, I really like the bands mentioned above. This just feels entirely generic and flat to me, almost like paint-by-numbers angry punk. This somewhat surprised me, since these guys have a fair amount of underground buzz swirling around them.

As Expendable Humans streamrolls along, you get song after song like opener “Paralyzer,” with a big, low-end rumble, chugging, thick riffs and the heartily irate bellows of Rich Von Muller. It even has some vaguely blackened trem-riffing. “Bloodsucker” features some interesting, almost Voivoid-like stutter-step riffing and ”Hail to the Wicked” grinds along nastily like a tank.  The best moments IMHO come during ”Bloodsucker” and  ”Kill to Survive” (which has a vibe not unlike long forgotten thrashers At War). The big problem for me is so many of the songs are faceless and indistinguishable from each other. They rage noisily for two minutes and die, leaving absolutely nothing stuck in the musical memory banks. Of the lot, only about five tunes contain moments that peaked my interest and those did so only in the most modest ways.

A lot of my disconnect is attributable to the base style Vise Massacre employs, i.e. overly simplistic riffing and samey riff patterns. After a few songs, it starts to feel tedious and recycled. I can’t however, fault the vocals of Mr. Muller at all. He has the classic hardcore shout/roar down pat and spends most of the time sounding like he’s passing a large, sandpaper-coated marble through his urethra. Sometimes he reminds me of Gary Meskil (Pro-Pain) and even veers close to Tom Angelripper (Sodom) at times. He’s the bright spot to this hardcore onslaught and provides a lot of the charm the music itself often lacks. The mix is about what you’d expect from a New York hardcore album, bassy, heavy and thick. It sounds like a Big Apple street brawl without the taxi horns blaring in the background (though that would be pretty damn cool).

If you worship loud, angry, heavy hardcore, add a point or so. However, Steel Druhm just couldn’t get this thing to sink into his steely consciousness, despite numerous spins. In fact, this left such a light impression, it was a real challenge to adequately explain what I’d heard. It pains me to say it, but so far, 2012 isn’t tickling my metal bone (under my collarbone) as much as I expected. It’s still early though and Steel Druhm is ever the patient, optimistic metal miser. Now, get me some good promos before I fucking lose it!

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Yes, Vektor’s main reference point is Voivod, particularly their Killing Technology era. The outer-space themes, the dissonant guitar work – it’s all in there. Big surprise. But on Outer Isolation, the band manages to offset their massive debt to those Canadian legends by taking a more technical approach musically.

The opening track “Cosmic Cortex” is a 10-minute monster, laying out the foundation of the Vektor sound as it unfolds. A spaced out intro leads into twisted guitar riffing, blastbeats, and shrieking vocals over the course of this beast. Guitarists David DiSanto and Erik Nelson demonstrate considerable technical chops, owing more to Athiest or even Watchtower than to Piggy and co. Bassist Frank Chin also impresses, laying an audible foundation while also playing fast enough to keep up with Nelson and DiSanto. As the album goes on, it becomes less about individual songs than the record as a whole (again, kinda like Killing Technology). There are still plenty of standout moments, though. “Dark Creations, Dead Creators” makes use of some crafty dual-guitar harmonies, and “Fast Paced Society” is just as speedy as the title implies. I should also add that the track “Tetrastructural Minds” contains my favorite single riff of 2011 (44 seconds in). I defy you not to headbang to it.

While his guitar chops are unquestionable, DiSanto has caught some shit from metal journalists concerning his vocal technique. For the most part, he utilizes a perfectly functional black metal-esque rasp. However, he also has a high-pitched shriek that he puts to use pretty liberally. Think old-school Tom Araya (and even Tom had the sense to give it a rest after about 1986). If you’re into that sort of thing, great. If not, consider yourself warned. Personally, I found the album to be so focused on the guitar work that stuff going on in the vocal department didn’t bother me much. And yes, that’s a good thing.

Generally speaking, the record is intense as hell, extremely technical at times, and almost impossibly fast. At 51 minutes long, the overall effect is almost dizzying (in a good way). This album is packed tight with great riffs and memorable parts, to a degree that it’s hard to take in all at once, but repeat listens are rewarded as more cool details make themselves known.

Outer Isolation represents Vektor coming into their own, positioning themselves miles ahead of the retro-thrash pack and even creating some distance between themselves and the band they’re obviously modeled after. Given Vektor’s obvious skill level, it’s entirely possible that they will eventually bring something new to the thrash game, much like what Revocation has been working towards. In the meantime, they’ve created a thoroughly enjoyable thrash/tech/speed beast of an album. They might want to look into a new logo though…

Related posts:

1. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Armor Column – Maximum Collateral Damage
2. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Beyond Creation – The Aura
3. Things You Might Have Missed in 2011: Winterus – In Carbon Mysticism

So here’s my first official review of 2012 and Steel Druhm must report that the retro-thrash wave has spilled over into another year. Whatever your opinion of such spillage may be, like every trend, some of that deluge is good, some is really bad, the majority floats in the middle. With their debut full length, Chicago toughs Degradation find themselves somewhere in that big middle, drifting toward the good side of the river but not quite able to reach the shore. Enough with the nautical metaphors. This is steady but mostly unexceptional thrash like they used to make in the second and the dreaded third wave (Gothic Slam, anybody?) of the original thrash explosion. Scattered across this fairly short, fly by album are traces of Slayer, Metallica, Testament and even mega-obscure Faith or Fear. It’s a Bay Area thrash revival with the odd piece of the germanic school sprinkled in for flavor (think old Deathrow). Despite the energy and enthusiasm the band brings to the material, I was never able to fully buy into Juggernaut and after repeated listens, some of the tracks just go by without registering in my thrash receptacle (located just under the spleen). I’m not sure if its thrash fatigue or what but this album just doesn’t resonate, though there are some quality moments.

Opener “A Necessary Evil” pretty much tells you all about Degradation. It’s no frills, zippy, semi-melodic, 80s thrash with plenty of speed and vocals somewhere between James Hetfield and Chuck Billy. The riffs are respectable, the solo breaks are nice and everything gels just fine. Sadly, for me, the main redeeming feature of the song is how the chorus sounds like “unnecessary evil” which I find hilarious for some reason. The title track steps up the aggression with some pretty impressive riffing and solos (listen at 2:08), as does “The Reckoning” with its borderline black metal mixed with Slayer riffs and copious F-bombery. The balance of Juggernaut blasts along the same musical Autobahn with varying degrees of engagement and interest (“Rise to Fall” and “Trail of Sin” are both fairly catchy). They even tack on a cover the The Crown‘s “Executioner, Slayer of Light” for good measure and its nicely done.

While everything works in a workmanlike manner, few elements will jump out at you. Mike Hartman and Alex Manske are more than competent riff-meisters and flex some decent muscle on solos but it’s nothing new and it’s been done and redone. Even the vaguely neo-classical moments later on the album are nothing new. The vocals are also workmanlike, without anything exciting to recommend them. What works to Degradation‘s advantage is the overall brevity of the album. Since it’s around thirty-minutes and most songs are under four minutes, Juggernaut just blasts by in a fury and its all over before you know it. Unfortunately, I found myself continually losing attention and focus even over its short span (Reign in Blood it ain’t).

There’s some potential and some talent here and I’d take this any day over core-ish modern thrash, but it feels incomplete. Maybe retro thrash diehards will find this irresistable but I find this unessential and fairly generic. Maybe next time they can find the missing ingredient and create a real thrashing firestorm but Juggernaut doesn’t live up to its imposing name. A slightly soggy start to 2012.

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Balfor really excels at mining the Immortal sound for their own twisted purposes. It quickly becomes apparent they shamelessly looted the Immortal discography for useful riff structures and Abbath’s vocal cords for that matter (yes, Thorgeir Berserk sounds an awful lot like Lord Abbath). With all pretense of originality thus abandoned, Balfor proceeds to thrash it up nicely with  speedy barn burners like “Behold My Hate!” (love those battle horns in the background) and “Pure Barbaric” (so Immortal, they may litigate). The surprise comes with tracks like “In a Thunder of Ancient Glory” where the Immortal-isms are broken up by Gothenburg melo-death leads and solos of high quality (check out the fretting at 2:45). Tracks like “Shadow of My Raven Wings” and “Light’s Demise” are strewn with razor-sharp riffs and trem-abuse and there’s a healthy dose of blast beating around every darkened corner. Other moments of interest include the slightly off-kilter riffing and epic vibe in “Kingdom’s Blood” and the surprising clean vocal turn in “The Perfect Fire.” It’s an album full of stomping, storming black-thrash and its mighty entertaining.

Both Thorgeir and Dragon-T (there’s NO place for anime-based names in black metal!) impress with their riffing and leads. The solos range from nonexistent to In Flames-y and there’s clearly skill involved, although they seem to restrain themselves and avoid getting too noodle-intensive. Thorgeir’s black rasp is fun and nasty and he dives into death vox at times for added impact. The sound is crisp, clear and essentially sounds like a later-era Immortal album (surprise, surprise).

There’s not much originality to be found on Barbaric Blood but there’s plenty of quality black thrash with energy and snap. Lots of cool riffs, rollicking anger and general hatred, it’s all here and I like it. If you like Immortal, you likely will too. This isn’t a landmark release by any means but I found myself going back to it a fair amount in a year without a new Immortal platter. Geez, how many freaking times did I mention Immortal in this review? Just check it out already! I’m gonna go crawl in the corner with my Immortal, my precious!

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Their sound hits closest to late 80s thrash (think Overkill and Sacred Reich with some Exodus and Metal Church overtones) and from the start of ”Warmonger,” things are pretty frantic and frenetic with lots of fast, driving riffs and the alternating barks and air-raid-screams of Jeff Andrews. This is the very soul of a guitar-driven affair and the riffs Carpenter and battery-mate Ray Russell come up with are solid and satisfying. Tracks like “With Blood and Vengeance,” and “Dictator’s Whore” hit fast and hard with as much subtlety as an RPG and both feature exceptional solos. Longer songs like the title track show off the band’s technical prowess without sacrificing any of the heavy artillery. Of the eight tracks, only “Rattenkrieg” feels expendable, with the remainder being good examples of meat and potatoes thrash with power elements.

Aside from the effective guitars, Jeff Andrews puts in an impressive and diverse vocal performance. At times sounding like Overkill‘s Bobby Blitz, and at others like Steve Souza from Exodus, he even adopts a style akin to Harry “the Tyrant” Conklin from Jag Panzer on “We Breathe Extinction.” His screams, snarls, blathering and bleating really put the album over the top into the money zone and even brings to mind long defunct and largely forgotten New Jersey thrashers Blessed Death. An inspired exercise of the pipes indeed. Kudos to you sir.

With the holiday season upon us, why not give yourself and your loved ones the gift of war-thrash? It’s better than the sweater Aunt Gertrude made for you and it’s WAY better than the whiskey infused fruitcake Uncle Murray made (or found in a dumpster). Sing with me, tis the season to kill all the enemy/ fa la la la la, la la la la/ bomb the towns and all their factories/ fa la la la la, la la la la.

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1. Things You Might Have Missed in 2011: Vektor – Outer Isolation
2. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Balfor – Barbaric Blood
3. Things You Might Have Missed 2011: Nami – Fragile Alignments

When Megadeth released Endgame in 2009, I was noticeably effected. This was Megadeth like we hadn’t really heard them since (arguably) Youthanasia, and for more fans, much earlier than that. It was a refreshed band with excellent writing and guitar work that matched the Marty Friedman days. The songs were well written, catchy and the record was tightly edited and honed down to perfect vinyl length. Honestly, Endgame was a record that I don’t think anyone but the most idealistic of Megadeth fans could even have been expecting. And though at the time I joked that we should make sure that Mustaine wasn’t stockpiling fertilizer, (I still hold firm to that belief) the record has aged pretty well. That, of course, means that there are some expectations for Th1rt3en. Expectations that this record, for example, will not suck.

Th1rt3en doesn’t suck. I can say that from the get-go. Musically, while this record is not as dark and thrashy as Endgame was, it is musically superior to anything that Megadeth put out between Youthanasia and Endgame. While “Sudden Death” starts out a little off, it works into a catchy chorus and some fantastic soloing. The same is true of “Never Dead” and “Public Enemy No. 1,” while the track “New World Order” is a driving track that wanders into some pretty cool progressive area musically. But it’s true that this album is a lot more “driving music,” or sort of driven tracks that are more akin to “Angry Again” or “99 Ways to Die”—that is to say direct. See almost any track on here, “Wrecker” or “Deadly Nightshade” or… well, you get the picture. The dark and thrashy approach that characterized Endgame goes missing, definitely.

These tracks lead to copious amount of head nodding, which is always a good sign. And I do really dig some of this stuff, but there are some things that really stick out for me. First, this record is too long. At an hour, it contains two or three songs too many. Unlike Endgame, which felt like an ass-kicking at 45 minutes long, Th1rt3n loses me at about “Wrecker” and I just have trouble staying tuned in. This isn’t a good thing. And while the music is great and there are some really good solos (let’s just say that this Angry Metal Guy thinks that Chris Broderick is the best thing that ever happened to Megadeth) and some good writing, the tracks feel a bit tired at times and they don’t hide something that is becoming more and more of a deal breaker for me.

The deal breaker is the lyrics. Th1rt3en wanders between the inane (“Whose life is this anyway?” Well, Dave, given that you’re a grown man, it’s yours—so do something about it) and the insane (“I’ve seen the future / One of calamity / The coming plagues / of the new disease / The Illuminati / One world currency / One world religion / One world everything!” — from “We the People,” though this is offset by an amazing fucking solo) and the downright stupid (“Monitoring our wages / New World Order comes in stages”). It’s ironic that as he’s gotten older Mustaine’s politics apparently have gotten stupider and I really think he believes this stuff. It’s one thing if this is fiction, it’s another thing if this dude is really listening to Alex Jones and writing this kind of crap in paranoid fits in the middle of the night. I’m guessing that the creators of Fallout could make a pretty funny town in an upcoming release of the game where Dave Mustaine and Jon Schaffer have joined together to create the most metal of post-apocalyptic villages—what with them both being so well-prepared. This stuff is silly and the lyrics aren’t good and they kind of piss on the songs. Mustaine has never been a lyrical genius, but I don’t recall it ever being this bad before.

Still, I guarantee you that fans of the band will like this record. There’s plenty of musical goodness to enjoy and Mustaine’s paranoid politics aside, it’s got some really enjoyable moments. I need to come back to the point that Chris Broderick is a total beast again, though. I reserved .5 of this 3.0 score for him because his guitar playing is worth owning this record for. His solos are fantastic and he brings an energy to this project that has been missing for along time. So more power to him and I hope that he stays on and helps Mustaine through his apparently very difficult and paranoid time.

Oh, btw, Dave, the magical Endgame Document that disappeared and can’t be found is located here [PDF].

Megadeth // Th1rt3en
Rating: 2.5/5.0 — Symphony of distraction
By: Steel Druhm

It seems 2011 is the year of the so-called “Big Four.” We’ve had a tour of 80s giants Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer and Metallica, a long-awaited release by Anthrax and now, the new Megadeth platter arrives. In all fairness and candor, the very originally titled Th1rt3en (it’s their thirteenth album) has the misfortune of following Endgame, one of Megadeth‘s best albums in years. That means expectations are significantly higher than usual. Making matters much worse, Mustaine & crew chose this of all times to adopt a more melodic, hard rockish and at times, poppy style. Naturally, the combination of these two factors doesn’t bode well for Big Dave’s shiny new product and Th1rt3en is a large step back from Endgame. While there are a few examples of vintage Deth, this just isn’t a very good collection of songs. There are several factors working against it and by the time this runs its course, a lot of people are going to feel underwhelmed and frustrated.

Things start out very well with “Sudden Death,” which has all the classic Deth elements in force and working overtime. There’s guitar pyrotechnics, especially from new guitar monster Chris Broderick (ex Jag Panzer), loads of aggression and Dave’s patented snarl. It’s so vital, it  reminds you why this band has remained relevant for so long. If the rest of Th1rt3en was like this, it would be big money. However, things immediately dive into silly, overly commercial radio rock like “Public Enemy NO. 1″ (which sounds like an Alice Cooper song from his late 80s pop-metal period) and “Whose Life (Is It Anyways?).” From there, we get the bland “We the People” which is crushed under the weight of unbelievably bad political lyrics that may have come from a Fourth Grade Civics textbook. Seriously, I don’t care a bit about Mustaine’s political opinions but when the lyrics are this hackneyed and cheeseball, it undermines all my attempts to take things seriously. Other failures include the filler demons “Guns, Drugs and Money” and “Fast Lane” (which has lyrics that make “I Can’t Drive 55″ seem profound by comparison [And rhymes stolen directly from The Box Tops's "The Letter" - AMG]). After suffering through tracks like these, I couldn’t help but think of the recent Annihilator output and their oh-so-cheese-tastic quasi-thrash. While ”Never Dead,” “New World Order” and “Millenium of the Blind” are all respectable, they just aren’t good enough to salvage an album steeped in mediocrity (which goes on for three songs too long).

What does almost salvage things is Mr. Broderick’s amazing playing. The man is unbelievable and if ever there was a guitar hero, he’s it. Almost every song gets elevated by his fluid shredding and lead-work. If Davey boy had managed to write slighty better songs, Broderick’s fret mastery would have carried them all to victory. As it is, he can only help stave off a total collapse. While his songwriting clearly isn’t up to snuff, Dave’s playing and vocals are in fine form and his snarl sounds as good as ever. Musically, these cats are beyond reproach and as a unit, they sound tight and dangerous, even on the slower songs (of which there are many).

This brings me back to another major source of irritation: the lyrics. They’re partic-ularly cringe-worthy across most of Th1rt3en and they seriously impair my appreciation of several songs. While I don’t buy a Megadeth platter for Dave’s poetic word play, he really shits the bed on many of the songs and some of his word choices had me throwing up my hands in dismay. Maybe its the therapy sessions with Lars or too much interweb time on Jon Schaffer approved, geo-political conspiracy sites, but Dave really phoned it in this time. When the songs themselves are this iffy, bad lyrics are the wet French kiss of deth (yes, I’m funny [Oh-so-very funny! - AMG]).

So there you have it, this isn’t one of the better releases in Megadeth‘s considerable discography. It has moments (largely supplied by Broderick) but overall, this one is gonna collect a whole lot of dust on my CD shelf in the coming years. If you worship these guys, you’ll get this and deal with it but you’ll have to admit, its not indicative of what they’re truly capable of. If it’s any consolation Dave, this is still light years better than anything Metallica could do these days (Lou Reed anybody?). Step up to the table Slayer!

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2. Megadeth – Head Crusher
3. Evile – Infected Nations Review

My, how times and tastes change. When I first signed on as a newbie writer for Angry Metal Guy Industries, I was happy and content with all the musical trends in the metalsphere (save anything core, of course). Now, a scant year and a half later, I’m pretty much burned out on black metal and I’m even getting weary of my (formerly)  beloved retro-thrash wave. At this point, the trend feels beaten back to life then back to death again. While a few of the recent thrash releases stood out (Toxic Holocaust for one), as a rule the scene feels tired and old like it did toward the end of the original wave. That brings us to the U.K.’s Evile. Their 2007 release Enter the Grave was a nice shot in the arm of vintage thrash but their follow-up Infected Nations took on too much of a progressive mid-period Metallica vibe and bored more bashed (although AMG dug it well enough). I was hopeful they would return to their more aggressive style on Five Serpent’s Teeth and while they did, this ended up too generic and unoriginal to really get me worked up into a thrashy lather. However, its undeniably well-executed, generally engaging speed with enough technical ability to impress and a few standout cuts.

The opening title track is an aggressive stomper and clearly isn’t lacking in energy. It has more than its share of storming thrash riffs akin to my beloved Wargasm paired with In Flames-esque leads and solos but something about it results in a disconnect for me. I want to like it but  feel cold and distant toward it. Other songs like “Cult,” ”Xaraya” and “Centurion” are straight-forward thrash but throw in interesting harmonies and excellent guitar solos (check out “Xaraya” at 3:50) and engage the listener. Others like “In Dreams of Terror,” ”Eternal Empire” and “Long Live the New Flesh” feel generic and tedious and don’t hold my attention. Power-ballad “In Memoriam” has a huge Metallica influence, from the guitar phraseology to the Hetfieldy vocals (its so close to something off the Black Album, it’s nearly a cover song) but it works fairly well and the emotional guitar-work is an album high point. The rest of the songs either fall into the “entertaining but unoriginal” or “generic and not too entertaining” baskets. Fortunately, the balance falls in the entertaining bin and more songs work than don’t.

The saving grace for much of Five Serpent’s is the guitar-work of brothers-o-metal Ol and Matt Drake. While most of the riffing is standard-issue thrash that you’ve heard elsewhere since 1983′, they do it with enough conviction  and heart to put it over. Where they really shine is in the solo department. They clearly have chops and some of their lead-work is beautiful and classy-as-fuck. Vocally, Matt Drake has been labelled a Hetfield clone and there are some similarities but here, he tends to sound more like Bob Mayo (Wargasm). His delivery and tone is tougher than Hetfield’s and that usually helps retain the heavy factor even when they move into mid-paced tempos. He’s not the best vocalist out there but he gets it done. Together, Evile sounds tight and proficient musically but the songwriting doesn’t always keep up with the technical flair.

The production is a typically overblown, overly clean, modern one and although the guitars sound big and beefy, the sterile sound takes away much of the edge and danger thrash should have. It has the same sound as many recent metalcore/modern metal releases and while that doesn’t completely ruin the impact, it isn’t helping much either.

Between the sound, sometimes generic songwriting and the oversaturation of retro-thrash, this just doesn’t have a real wow factor for me. In all fairness, this late in the game, only the very best thrash releases can standout and avoid a feeling of malaise and been-there-got-the-Slayer-shirt. Evile was never a top dog in the genre IMHO and this release doesn’t elevate them there. Its decent, solid thrash and you can tell they mean it, but its been done, and done. I would recommend tracking down the old Wargasm albums instead but if you want new thrash, Evile is the lesser of other retro evils out there.

Related posts:

1. Evile – Infected Nations Review
2. RIP Mike Alexander
3. Toxic Holocaust – Conjure and Command Review

Wow, the Thrax is finally back! After endless bullshit, drama and ridiculous delays, the revolving door of vocalists that saw John Bush and Joey Belladonna coming, going and coming again is over (for now). In the peculiar saga that saw John Bush depart so Anthrax could record an entire album with unsung voice Dan Nelson, only to scrap it for planned re-dubs with Bush and then later with original singer Joey Belladonna, we finally get the refinished  product. Confused? Yeah, me too. So after an eight year wait, is Worship Music worth the metallic soap opera and histrionics fans had to endure? Well, the hype circus is already in full swing, with the band themselves saying its their best material and some early reviews comparing the quality favorably to genre classics like “Heaven and Hell” and “Stargazer.”  Well, allow me to take a step back and simply say, NOT! It’s good and definitely interesting but Steel Druhm shall not be among the throngs of metal press that hail this as some crowning triumph or the best work of their long career. While it isn’t in the same league as their classics, it’s enjoyable and finds them trying new things without completely ditching the classic Thrax sound. Despite a few excellent songs, Worship Music isn’t the release of the year that many (myself included) hoped it would be.

After a brief intro, the boys from Brooklyn come roaring out with considerable rage and passion on “Earth on Hell” and seem determined to make a statement that they’re back and mean business. Driven by angry, intense riffing and recurring blast beats, this is Anthrax at their most vicious. When we finally get to hear the 2011 version of Joey Belladonna on the mic, it’s a bit of a shock. He sounds quite different than he used to and has a deeper, rougher voice and bases himself more around a mid-range rough and tough style that will remind many of, well, John Bush. Confused? Me too. As strange as Belladonna channeling Bush sounds, it works well and its a good opener (with a blistering solo at 2:12). They don’t really hit their stride until “The Devil You Know” which is infectious from the get-go and has that classic Anthrax riffing and swagger. The big surprise comes at the chorus which is startlingly melodic and hooky, even for Anthrax, and results in one of their best songs in years.  ”Fight Em Til’ You Can’t” starts life sounding like it was written during their late 80′s period and even has those classic Thrax gang shout alongs. Again, the chorus is big and super melodic, almost to the point of sounding out-of-place (especially on a song about zombies) but its a winner (though it was pointed out to me by an astute metal fan how strikingly similar this is to “Gridlock” on Persistence of Time). The other two standouts are “I’m Alive” with its smoldering, intense style and HUGE chorus (although it doesn’t sound much like Anthrax) and “In The End” which has riffing like modern-day Exodus paired with pained, impassioned vocals and enough dramatic atmosphere for six high school productions of Hamlet.

Alas, poor Yorik, all good things eventually get plagued by filler and that becomes an issue on the back half of Worship Music. While tracks like “The Giant” and “Judas Priest” (listen for all the song references) are solid enough, ”Crawl” is pretty tame (despite Belladonna’s amazing John Bush impression) and “Revolution Screams” feels generic and boring (but contains an interesting hidden track). Likewise, “The Constant” isn’t up to the level of the earlier tracks despite cool moments. For the most part, the new material is closer to that of Bush-era releases like Sound of White Noise or Stomp 442. However, flashes of the Among the Living and Persistence of Time sound can still be heard in the choruses and riff phrasing.

The guitar-work by Scott Ian and Rob Caggiano is rock solid across the album and there are some mighty sharp riffs scattered   about. They also drop some urgent and energetic solos at the right times on several tracks (3:35 on “Fight Em” is a good example). Belladonna’s vocals are also well done although he sounds reborn as John Bush. Seriously, I’m not bashing the guy at all but a lot of his vocals sound as though he’s trying to beef up his voice to sound more raw and whiskey-soaked. If Anthrax wanted that, why didn’t they just keep Bush who is far better at this style of singing (or Dan Nelson who’s been described as “John Bush on steroids”)? Regardless, he sounds good and its nice to have the classic line-up almost all together again. The production here is huge and loud but avoids feeling sterile or empty. The guitars have bite and grit and the drums have a real snap to them.

We’re finally graced with the 2011 version of Anthrax and for the most part, they didn’t screw the pooch like many expected. They sound older, wiser and more mature than I ever expected from those party dudes in jams shorts and high tops. While the first half is significantly better than the second, there are no flat-out awful songs and when they get it right, its pretty damn right. It’s probably their best album since Sound of White Noise and if you avoid the overhype and approach it with muted expectations, you should be pleasantly surprised. It’s a good start to the next era of Thrax and I hope they can hold things together for a while. At the very least they can rest easy knowing this is far better than anything Metallica has put out in the last twenty years. N.F.L.!

Related posts:

1. Flotsam and Jetsam – The Cold Review
2. Lazarus A.D. – Black Rivers Flow Review
3. DC4 – Electric Ministry Review