The dusty plains of the 2018 thrash scene is a distant memory as we plunge forward with scary rapidness to the pointy end of the year. Thrash hasn’t exactly set the metal scene ablaze in 2019, however there’s at least been a string of solid and noteworthy thrash platters. Greek stalwarts Suicidal Angels return with another retro inspired batch of thrash anthems on seventh album, Years of Aggression.” Decades of aggression.
“Like father, like son, they say. Hatriot was the side project of Steve “Zetro” Souza of Exodus fame and his sons Cody, who handled bass duties, and Nick, who manned the kit. Their 2013 debut Heroes of Origin was a rip-roaring dose of classic thrash, and though 2014s Dawn of the New Centurion felt like a drop off, it was still a respectable slice of speed. The band’s been silent since then, but From Days Unto Darkness sees the Souza clan return sans dad, with Cody picking up vocal duties.” Thrash is thicker than blood.
“Goddamn, I’ve reviewed a lot of black metal this year. Not that I’m upset about it. But, since joining this illustrious website of snobbery and pretentiousness five years ago, my yearly average is higher than it’s ever been. Is it due to Grier selling out and over-rating the under-rated albums of 2019? Oh, hell no, you over-commenting sonsofbitches. It’s because I’m blessed to review bands like Istapp, Darkthrone, and Vous Autres. Over-rater, I am not. Over-editor? Well, yeah, look at what I have to work with here! But, in hopes of lowering my average for the year and giving my black, swollen head a rest, I closed my eyes and reached into the scorpion-infested grog box that is the AMG Promo Bin. And out I pulled Atlanta’s only Kreator-inspired thrash metal band, Sadistic Ritual.” Thrashlanta.
“Now, don’t get me wrong, being the child of the thrash era, I love when a song turns on end and a chugging lick crescendos into a neck-snapping attack. But, I also miss the days when a band could write a thrash classic that wasn’t waiting around for that mid-song savagery. War Curse also remember those good ol’ days. That’s why they gave us Eradication.” War Curse (and Pepperidge Farms remember).
“A while ago, I was walking about and found myself in want of a quick, cheap, easy snack. I knew I was close to a McDonald’s, and that a greasy, delicious McDouble was under two bucks; perfect. Yet when I reached the restaurant, something was weird: it was called “McCafe” and designed to look trendy, modern, and friendly to Starbucks-sipping screenplay scribblers. I used to be rather good at guessing an album’s genre based on the cover, but trips to the record store have proven confusing nowadays for the more extreme variants of metal.” Destroying for fun.
“Germany’s Exumer has been around since the 80s themselves, and they have a pretty good grasp on what it takes to craft a successful slab o’ thrash. I still enjoy their Possessed By Fire debut all these years later, and 2016s The Raging Tides had it share of sweet aggression despite some shortcomings. Now they’ve come back to bludgeon with their fifth album, Hostile Defiance, and lo and behold, all the essentials rules are followed and their mosh ducks are in a neat row.” Hostile work environment.
“I tested my mettle (and my liver) on the famed 70,000 Tons of Metal this month and somehow convinced real metal PR folks that I was a real metal journalist. This may or may not have something to do with them thinking I was the Angry Metal Guy, despite my insistence otherwise. As fortune would have it, John Kevill, vocalist and founding member of thrash metal savants Warbringer (and a personal favorite since he was cool as hell to me in a venue bathroom in 2009 (wait, that sounds off (or does it?))), was willing to sit down for a bit. In true Warbringer fashion, John went right at it regarding his thoughts on metal journalism, context, and thrash metal writ large and was as thoughtful, forward, and unapologetic as his music.” Starting wars.
“Critical Defiance have learned well from their predecessors, but they are a modern thrash band with a few new thoughts, two Felipes, and a zillion riffs.” A Nameless N00b is here to regale you with a story about Chilean “retro” thrash that isn’t retro, but is definitely thrash.
“Although we all love and respect the genre’s marvelous ’80s heyday and the myriad of timeless albums that particular decade produced, thrash shouldn’t just be some endless fucking nostalgia trip either. Necropanther probably released the best thrashy album I heard last year, but it doesn’t exactly qualify as straight-up thrash either. Meanwhile the future of the mighty Vektor remains clouded in uncertainty. But I’m determined to forage around the promo portal throughout the year and hopefully stumble across a thrash album deserving of high praise. Perhaps a new shining light to guide us to a pot of gold at the end of the thrash rainbow.” Light the fusion.
“My first hard rock record was Saliva’s Survival of the Sickest. I don’t mean that it was the first thing that could be lumped into the hard rock category that I’d ever heard—far from it—but that record gave me—then just into my teens—that missing bridge between classic rock and heavy metal. I could listen to both at the same time by throwing it on, hearing rock n’ roll played by a band who still had the nu-metal swagger of their early days. That link between genres is exactly what I look for in hard rock, and it seems that the Norwegians in Shotgun Rodeo think the same way.” Rock the bulls.
