“We don’t hear a lot of Spanish in my part of Ontario, and I’d think there’d be even less in Franco-centric Quebec, where Anonymus hails from. They’ve been at this thrash metal thing since 1989 and have written entire albums in English and French. With La Bestia, they’re officially a trilingual thrash troupe.” Plenty of tongue.
“Sweden’s Sodomisery began as a project that included live members from the monstrous Diabolical, as well as Katatonia‘s Niklas Sandin on bass and Netherbird‘s Johan Fridell on vox. At the completion of their 2017 self-titled EP, Fridell and Sandin left and a new lineup formed. Borrowing from their experiences with Diabolical, Sodomisery unleashes a crushing mix of black, death, Swedeath, thrash, and melodeath for their debut, The Great Demise. I know what you’re thinking: that’s a lot to digest. Well, at least the record title sounds uplifting?” Big death, big prizes!
“At last week’s regular AMG staff shaming re-education session, TheKenWord and I stood in the center of the writers’ circle and explained that our problem with thrash, despite all the riffage, had always been the vocals. Our Steely overseer prescribed a crash course in early Destruction, with the more unusual vocal delivery of Marcel Schirmer, aka Schmier. Having taken my medicine—and enjoyed both Infernal Overkill and Eternal Devastation, it should be said—I was stoked to find that the thrash promo I’d picked up on a whim actually included at least one member of Destruction.” A scorching case of Gomorra.
“Though I used to be a die hard death metal junkie, the past few years have found me sampling of it only sparingly, and mostly limited to the melodeath variant. I’m not sure if it’s current events or the need to stay in prolonged lockdown these past few months, but I’ve been on a major death kick of late, spinning heaps of old Suffocation, Incantation and Immolation albums at odd hours. This in turn led me to fish for noxious promos suited to my current listening predilection, and that’s where Switzerland’s Funeralopolis come in.” Forgotten pass.
“Vader‘s legendary status has been built on the bones of poseurs, past and present, and nothing about Solitude in Madness attempts to change that. This is a record borne aloft on the forge-winds of molten bullet belts. “Shock and Awe” does its talking with two firmly clenched fists.” Wading Vader.
“Those who know me barely at all or better can confirm that I will listen to anything. Indiscriminately. Without hesitation. Unless it’s thrash metal or doom metal or speed metal. With these three subgenres of my beloved I am picky, who knows why. Assassin belong to the thrash metal category. Established in 1984 under their current moniker (they spent one or two years under the name Satanica), Assassin only have a few titles under their bullet belt. This is due to a breakup in 1989, but after reuniting in 2002 the band has released material steadily every few years or so.” Old dogs, old tricks.
“Surgical Strike had its beginnings in 1993 and put out a couple of demos before going on hiatus for nearly twenty years. Reforming in 2014 with vocalist Jens Albert as the lone link to its past, the band released an EP in 2016 and now present their first official entry into the German thrash canon. And a solid entry it is.” Speed sickens.
“Bonded is a German band that qualifies as both new and old when it comes to thrash. Rest in Violence is their debut record, but founders Bernd ‘Bernemann’ Kost and Markus ‘Makka’ Freiwald are both longtime veterans of Teutonic thrash legends Sodom. The duo has assembled an army of talent and is launching an all-out assault on the groovier side of the thrash subgenre tree. Will this initial foray hit with the force of an agent orange drop, or is it better off dead?” Bond jumpers.
“Casket Huffer. There’s a name that begs the question “because why the fuck not?” Given their moniker, I originally expected this Wyoming quartet to produce noxious fumes of the bestial blackened death metal variety. And while there’s always room in the house of Z. for the Conquerors and Caveman Cults of the world, what Huffer have produced on their second album Filth Ouroboros is actually quite a bit different.” Smell the casket.
“What am I supposed to do if I can’t look at a band’s country of origin and judge them accordingly? What the fuck am I supposed to do as a reviewer if I can’t take one of my Sodom reviews, copy-and-paste it into the blog, and change the band name and album title? Don’t worry, dear reader. It’s no problem. I’ll, instead, steal some adjectives from Steel‘s Death Angel reviews and verbiage from AMG‘s Iced Earth ones to pen my writeup of The Final Divide. That’ll work.” Plague of plagiarism.
