Suicidal Angels

Anonymus – La Bestia Review

Anonymus – La Bestia Review

“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.

Repent – Condemned to Fail Review

Repent – Condemned to Fail Review

“As I recently noted on my Suicidal Angels review, thrash in 2019 has thrown up some strong albums, without delivering anything particularly unique or earth shattering. Yet there’s been enough quality to renew my faith and enthusiastically plunge into another thrash platter, this time courtesy an unfamiliar but apparently long running German act by the name of Repent. Condemned to Fail marks the band’s fourth LP and first since 2012.” Failing and flailing.

Suicidal Angels – Years of Aggression Review

Suicidal Angels – Years of Aggression Review

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.

Mortal Scepter – Where Light Suffocates Review

Mortal Scepter – Where Light Suffocates Review

“My serious pursuits see me swimming in the olde. Philosophy’s greatest treasures are centuries and millennia old. One area of Ontarian contract law is essentially governed by a case concerning seafaring during the Napoleonic Wars. Romantically, well, I’ve gone grave robbing instead of cradle robbing, my affections being towards a lovely woman a few months my senior. It seems only fitting that French death-thrashers Mortal Scepter caught my eye.” Born too late.

Sunburst – Fragments of Creation Review

Sunburst – Fragments of Creation Review

“It’s well known that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with power metal and progressive/power. Some of my favorite bands ever—Symphony X and Blind Guardian the most obvious among them—fall into this category, and I keep an ever-watchful eye peeled for new additions to my catalogue. Yet the genre is also plagued by some serious annoyances for me. First, many of the most popular vocalists are people who I find nigh-on unlistenable (Warrel Dane). Second, unlike my esteemed colleague and dictatorial collaborator Lieutenant Corporal Steel Druhm, I find that much of the music being produced within this scene just isn’t terribly heavy. Bands that others worship—see Anubis Gate—feel washed out and bland, offering up little “metal” to keep me engaged.”

Suppressive Fire – Bedlam Review

Suppressive Fire – Bedlam Review

“The Raleigh-based power trio of Suppressive Fire plays a brand of fun and slightly blackened thrash that skips the pizza entirely. Culling mainly from the “devil metal” of Nunslaughter, Nocturnal Breed’s Fields of Rot, and producer Joel Grind’s main outfit Toxic Holocaust, this is a modern take on thrash, infused with more extreme elements but still being rooted in the ethos of the harsher end of the classics spectrum.” So, can this debut differentiate itself in the early days of 2016?

Suicidal Angels – Divide and Conquer Review

Suicidal Angels – Divide and Conquer Review

“Just weeks into 2014 and I’ve fallen off the rethrash wagon for a second time. That’s because long-suffering Greek thrashers Suicidal Angels are back with a fifth album full of music striving to recreate the second wave of Bay Area thrash. Naturally, that means heaps of Exodus, Slayer, Vio-Lence worship and where you stand on that is a wholly personal issue. While I only became aware of these chaps on their past few albums, I’ve never been totally sold on their brand of rethrash. It’s always reasonably enjoyable, competently performed, meat-and-potatoes speed, but there was always a sense of “been there, done that, got punched by the bouncer” about it that left me on the sidelines.” Did you know thrash was as big a part of Greek culture as gyros and big weddings? Me either.