“Brazil’s Blackning have been producing concise neo-thrash records for nearly a decade. After a six-year hiatus, this quartet is back with their third album, Awakening Rage. As with so many thrash greats, will this third offering be the band’s epic masterpiece? Or will it be forgotten like so many others before it?” Third time’s the harm.
“Sabaton has made singing about war nearly as lucrative a proposition as Motley Crüe made singing about their dicks. And unlike their cock rocking elder’s chosen idiom, nation on nation violence translates far better into the metal ethos. Tales of bravery, battle and death are the bloody blocks upon which metal was originally built, and it drinks deeply of that Bathoryian tub to this day.” Draft day.
“When first discovering that Ghoul was releasing a new album, a friend of mine had this to say: “I didn’t realize Impaled… I mean, Ghoul, was still around.” Then, while phoning home recently, this was what my mother had to say about the new album: “Who in the fuck is Ghoul?” Whether surprised by the news of a new Ghoul release or not, one thing is for certain: my mom has a potty mouth.” Moms ruin all the fun.
“When “Spain” and “thrash” are mentioned in the same breath, I immediately think of Angelus Apatrida. While they kind of lost me with their newer stuff, their first two albums (especially sophomore release, Give ‘Em War) are essentials. The mold is a familiar one for fans of Testament, Death Angel, Exodus, and Megadeth, but those first two albums deliver. However, a couple weeks ago my definition of Spanish thrash metal changed forever when Crisix appeared in my inbox.” That sounds promising!
“Pirates occupy a strange place in popular consciousness; being at once badass and completely silly. For every historical tale of marauding, pillaging and rapine, there’s a counter-balancing pop culture anecdote like the mincing and prancing Captain Jack Sparrow. For every macho Captain Morgan, there’s Jerry Seinfeld’s pirate shirt. The same problem infects the sparsely populated “pirate metal’ genre pool. While the original outlaw crew known as Running Wild rode the pirate motif for decades of relative coolness, newcomers like Alestorm and Swashbuckle came along and unceremoniously pissed in that pool, making the very idea of pirate metal seem untenable and comical.” It’s almost Halloween, so why not get out the eye patch and pirate hat and celebrate the return of the original buccaneers, Running Wild. ARRRRRR!
Austrian Death Machine is a joke. It’s even a funny joke. With Arnold being the governor of California as well as the cheesiest movie star of our times, if not all-time, as well as a huge internet sensation, it is not at ALL a surprise that someone is doing this. (Though, according to Wikipedia there is another band that has been doing this for 7 years longer than Austrian Death Machine.)
