BLACK TALON – “Endless Realities”

coverIt may only be May, but 2015 has already been awash with fresh thrash offerings, some absolute belters, some a bit flaccid, to be generous. Black Talon now step into the spotlight with their debut long-player, Endless Realities, and something magical is happening. This is genuine street thrash, brought up, full time, in the shadows at the edge of the genre’s history, and splattered with the arterial spray of death metal. If the latter is the input of guitarist Mike Robertson, also of Edinburghian brutes, Cancerous Womb, then it’s well-smoothed around the edges. Continue reading

ANIHILATED – “Anti Social Engineering”


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Remember when you first fell in love with Metallica’s last great album, And Justice For All? What? You didn’t like it? First of all, there’s a chance we can’t be friends, and second, you could well be put off Anihilated’s freshest release, Anti Social Engineering, from the offset. There’s a more diverse character to the long-player, but the riff that primes the album is very reminiscent of that particular moment in the thrash giants’ career, and it echoes on throughout. If ‘the big 4’ had Anthrax switched out for Testament, and were merged into one band, this sound could very well be the result, instrumentally speaking. Continue reading

THE MORE I SEE – “The Disappearing Humans”

The More I See - "The Disappearing Humans"

I’m not really sure how it’s happened, but despite the fact that this is the fourth album from The More I See (featuring the guitar stylings of Gizz Butt – The Prodigy, Janus Stark, English Dogs, Sabbat!), it’s the first one I’ve heard. There are only four tracks from the full-length provided here, but the Earache label have uploaded the whole thing as a series of individual videos.   Continue reading

KREATOR – “Phantom Antichrist”

KreatorIf you read my Exumer review then you’d know that I have an enormous soft spot for German thrash.

Sodom will always be closest to my heart, (mainly due to happy memories of reading the lyrics to songs like “Burst Command Till War” & giggling my tits off as a kid), but few can deny that the most technically proficient and, dare I use the word, ‘progressive’ Teuto-thrash band were the mighty Kreator. Continue reading

ANGEL WITCH – “As Above, So Below”

AngelwitchOK so Angel Witch will never, in my humble opinion, match the classic self -titled album, ever. It is a masterpiece, just listen to the writing and remember that the whole of the thrash genre spawned by young guys on the west coast of America was as a result of them getting their hands on that very album.   Continue reading

CRIMINAL – “Akelarre”

Criminal AkelarreCriminal are a band that all metal fans should be familiar with. Somehow the UK has managed to overlook them, even in recent years when they have secured 10/10 reviews in Terrorizer Magazine, supported the likes of Megadeth and Metallica in stadium shows abroad and most recently headlined the Sophie Stage at Bloodstock Open Air 2010. Continue reading