Speed Metal

Speedclaw – Beast in the Mist

By El Cuervo on April 23, 2018 in 2018, Croatian Metal, Heavy Metal, NWOBHM, Reviews, Shadow Kingdom Records, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 20 comments

“I enjoy Hellripper to a fairly significant extent. Last year’s full-length release tore up its thrash competition and took home fifth place in my top ten records of 2017, leading to my deeper exploration of his repertoire of splits and EPs. It’s fair to say that the little Scottish bundle of energy is one of my favorite discoveries from the past few years of metal. Where before I would have avoided promos tagged with speed metal, I now take note with the intention of unveiling the next underground speed gem.” Speed is a lifestyle choice.

Demonomancy – Poisoned Atonement Review

By Treble Yell on February 27, 2018 in 2018, Black Metal, Death Metal, Invictus Productions, Italian Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Speed Metal, 0 comments

“Back in 2016, Italy’s ghoulish Demonomancy released a split EP with Finland’s Witchcraft that was one of the first releases that I tackled as a scribe for the site. While the split didn’t have me feting either act I still wrangled a fair measure of enjoyment out of it, enough at least to warrant a closer look at Demonomancy’s new album, Poisoned Atonement.” Vote Hell.

Stälker – Shadow of the Sword Review

By Huck N Roll on November 29, 2017 in 2017, Napalm Records, New Zealand Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 82 comments

“Last year in our EP edition of TYMHM, I waxed eloquent about a great little proto-thrash demo from some Wellington, NZ upstarts, Stälker. Their Satanic Panic cassette was such a nasty bit of early speed metal that it garnered the attention of Napalm Records, and this power trio was set to record their full-length debut this year. Enter Shadow of the Sword.” Only a big sword casts a shadow you can enter.

Masters of Disguise – Alpha/Omega Review

By Steel Druhm on October 19, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Limb Music, Reviews, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Heavy Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 66 comments

“Hey look, the weirdest inside joke in all of metal is still going strong. Backstory: Masters of Disguise is a throwback speed metal act living and breathing to pay homage to a particularly obscure band from the 80s called Savage Grace. Who, you ask? Exactly. They were a good band but barely got any traction or notoriety despite a pretty solid outing with 1986s After the Fall From Grace. Now Masters of Disguise (named after Grace’s debut album) seek to revive their hero’s nonexistent legacy due to some highly tenuous ties to the original singer.” First Will and Grace comes back and now Savage Grace too?

Vulture – The Guillotine Review

By Treble Yell on August 24, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, High Roller Records, Reviews, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 15 comments

“From the slightly out of focus and over-exposed band photos to the chrome plated logo that wouldn’t be out of place adorning the packaging of a bootleg Thundercats toy, Vulture have gone to great lengths to make it seem like they’ve been around for decades. Even the (rather excellent) album art has been carefully rendered to deceive, with faint nicks and scratches baked in to mimic a record that’s been manhandled and left in a crate for aeons.” Faux-olde.

Venom Inc. – Avé Review

By Ferrous Beuller on August 17, 2017 in 2017, Black Metal, English Metal, Nuclear Blast, Reviews, Speed Metal, Black Metal, Speed Metal, 75 comments

“All of us — even we manly men — have at some point, stumbled unnervingly into love. And we’ve all felt that multiverse-reverberating kidney punch when it inevitably goes to hell. To be so hopelessly enamored until destiny deigns to dissolve said bond and leave us only with a collection of increasingly pallid memories that cast a pall over once cherished years. Thus was my young love affair with Venom.” Of loves remembered and Satanic leagues disbanded.

Rage – Seasons of the Black Review

By Dr. A.N. Grier on July 28, 2017 in 2017, German Metal, Heavy Metal, Nuclear Blast, Power Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Speed Metal, 68 comments

“OK, so maybe I don’t have Netflix and, maybe, I thought Twitter was a porn site. And, maybe, I haven’t owned or played a video game in two decades or watched my beloved Yankees whip the Red Sox in over five years. And, maybe, the reason is that I don’t watch TV (or have one). So what if I like to sit around with my old man and talk about the Battle of Franklin? What if I like to have my breakfast at 4:30 every morning? And, so what if it’s currently 4 am right now? Maybe I have gray in my beard. Maybe I have gray in my pubes. That doesn’t make me fucking old. It’s not my fault I’m way more mature and far busier than the rest of you. You want old? Go find Huck, Steel, and Rage.”Silver and olde, silver and olde.

Antichrist – Sinful Birth Review

By Treble Yell on June 10, 2017 in I Hate, Reviews, Speed Metal, Swedish Metal, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 24 comments

“Like Liam Neeson’s grizzled ex-CIA agent from Taken, Sweden’s Antichrist are possessed of a very particular set of skills, except their skills are focused on creating an authentic facsimile of the speed/thrash zeitgeist of the early eighties.” More 80s than Radio Shack!

Foreseen – Grave Danger Review

By Huck N Roll on April 25, 2017 in 20 Buck Spin, 2017, Finnish Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Svart Records, Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Thrash Metal, 30 comments

“When I was thirteen years old I snagged an album with a wicked (cool word in 1983) cover. It was a drawing of what looked like a cynical, smartass devil. The album was Venom’s Black Metal, and my pals and I thought it was damn near the funniest thing we’d ever listened to. Crappy production, crappy musicians, goofy songs, and horrible vocals. We played that record to death, much to the displeasure of our mothers, girlfriends, and girlfriends’ mothers. C’mon, Huckles, why are you blathering on about Venom? This is supposed to be a writeup for Grave Danger, the second album from Finnish miscreants Foreseen. Well, that is what I’m doing here, but my point is that Grave Danger is basically another Venom album.” So he pulled up quick to get ve’nom!

Terrifier – Weapons of Thrash Destruction Review

By Huck N Roll on January 19, 2017 in 2017, Canadian Metal, Reviews, Speed Metal, Test Your Metal, Thrash Metal, Thrash Metal, 35 comments

“Old-school thrash metal warms the cockles of my olde, sinewy heart. Canadian thrash warms them even more. Having grown up on a Canadian thrash diet of Exciter, Annihilator, Anvil, and others, a solitary tear comes to my eye when some young upstarts attempt to bring the glorious past back to life. When Vancouver thrashers Terrifier’s second album, Weapons of Thrash Destruction, landed in my promo bin, I donned my denim vest, my studded leather wristbands, and my kamikaze headband, and I sat back in my lawn chair with the stereo volume beyond acceptable, hoping to be taken back to a simpler time in life.” WTD’s do exist!