The new album from German thrashers Running Death is one of those encounters you just cannot help going back to and with increasing zeal. Inspirations to the band include the likes of Megadeth, Testament, and Annihilator, traits audible within DressAge but their sound has much more in its armoury ranging from eighties heavy metal and rock to similar era speed metal. It all comes in varying degrees within a certain thrash bred stomp and all colluding in one virulently infectious and catchy slab of muscular rock ‘n’ roll.
The band’s debut album of 2015, Overdrive, ensured the Bavarian are no strangers to eager praise or a host to new waves of fans and things can only escalate with the release of DressAge. The album wears a grin on its creative face from its first breath and carries a mischief which gives its tracks a real feel of aggressive fun. It opens up with Courageous Minds, a track swiftly involving the listener in its lively gait and nature as rhythms thump and dance upon the senses whilst the guitars of Daniel Baar and vocalist Simon Bihlmayer spin a web of enticement. It is not long before the track is rigorously strolling through ears, the beats of Jakob Weikmann swiping as the voice of Bihlmayer growls in a quickly engaging affair which if not quite gripping the imagination as firmly as subsequent tracks certainly gets things off to a rather pleasing start.
Dressage is next, surrounding ears with an almost predatory web of textures cored by the throaty bait of Andrej Ramich’s bass. The anthemically driving rhythms of Weikmann quickly have the instincts to stomp hooked, the song taking mere moments more to eclipse its predecessor and really get the album rocking. Baar’s melodic enterprise is technically and sonically impressive and never diluting the natural roar and flow of the thrash fuelled encounter before a gasp of time brings the matching strengths and incitement of Delusive Silence upon an appetite already beginning to get a touch greedy for what is on offer. Fusing a great mix of melodic warmth and metal irritability, the track only blossoms its weave of adventure and varied sounds keeping expectations wrong-footed and the imagination hooked.
Next up Heroes Of The Hour wraps ears in a wiry weave of melody and creative snares before revealing a more predator side through jabbing beats and antagonistic bass. They are in turn aligned to swinging grooves, a revelry soon infesting the aggressive and infectious tendencies of the song as another highlight is crafted before Duty Of Beauty bounces upon ears with a catchiness which borders on poppy. Those eighties influences spice all tracks and certainly impregnate the boisterous rock ‘n’ roll of the fifth song which also has a touch of Danish rockers Grumpynators to it.
Through the bulging contagion and biceps of the Motorhead scented Numbers and the motorbilly fuelled Beneath The Surface, fresh heights are continued and pushed, both outstanding tracks as compelling in tone and character as they are in individual craft while Anthem of Madness has neck muscles working and the body romping with its voracious instrumental theatre.
The album closes with the pair of Safety Second and Refuse To Kill, the first a fiery ballad which haunts and snarls in equal measure as guitars conjure a tapestry of evocative suggestion around just as strong vocal expression. It is a song which simmers upon the passions compared to other tracks but rapidly grows to be just as persuasive with each rerun of building body of energy and adventure. Its successor has a darker edge to its air, a song close to stalking ears as it fills them with rapacious rock ‘n’ roll cored by the most crotchety slice of thrash metal upon the album.
Cloaked in the fine work of Mexican graphic artist Joel Sánchez Rosales, DressAge is a proposition which merges something familiar with something forcibly fresh, the outcome a record which inspires only enjoyment and an eager energy to get involved. We will not say it will be a regular album of the year nomination but it will be one metal roar we will be keenly joined in love for.
DressAge is out May 26th via Punishment 18 Records and @ https://runningdeath.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/runningdeath https://twitter.com/runningdeath1
Pete RingMaster 25/05/2017
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
The first single from the album, Nightmare comes next, its darker and more predatory character swiftly igniting the imagination whilst discord lined sonic enticement has ears seduced before it all momentarily halts for riffs and rhythms to collude and unleash a ravenous charge. That Metallica whiff is a rosy hue within the raw and incendiary landscape of the song, but as everywhere it gets honed into something maybe enjoyably familiar but leaves expectations scrambling for success. The song potently backs up the might of its predecessor before Forsaken Existence kicks things up another gear with its inventive and melodically emotive presence. From the opening breath, the track is a maze of twists and provocative craft before settling into a leaner surge of bruising enticement, though it in turn is soon wrapped in more sparkling invention and sonic colour which go on to entwine for the remaining length of the fascinating offering. The track is irresistible, at its heights when exploring a diversity of styles and pure contagion when just bullying air and ears.
Opener We Defy drives in from a distance first, healthily brewing riffs closing in before upon arrival triggering punchy rhythms and a highly flavoursome guitar enterprise. Once united it all settles into a muscular stride driven by crisply landed beats and a dark hearted bassline, the guitars spinning a web of thrash riffery bound in melodic and groove metal imagination. It is a pungent blend with the final potent ingredient being the snarling delivery of Brian’s vocals, his tones more sandy than gravelly but a great texture and attack for this and all songs. The album starter continues to grow and expand in invention and sound as its proceeds, never relinquishing its core anthemic contagion and blatant aggressiveness but filling ears with potent persuasion.
beckoning in metal it seems, before being thrust aside by the outstanding Land Of Cunning. Riffs and rhythms are assaulting the ears from its first seconds whilst a stringent groove twists the senses around its bony fingers. A persistent repetitive lure marks the track deliciously whilst the vocals of Liuni make a compelling varied persuasion with a snarl and twang to his delivery that only draws in further an already emerging appetite to match the strength of the charging sounds around him. There is little which is unsurprising or new to the attack but it matters little as the track niggles and erodes defences with skill and venomous intent. As anthemic as a stripper leading karaoke night, it is a mighty start with only its quite hefty length being a slight complaint, something which does grows to more of annoyance across other song as some feel unnecessarily stretched.
setting down their canvas to turn on an intensity and power which sprawls rigorously over the body of the track. Led by the excellent guttural vocals of Marloes Voskuil, her immense delivery soaked in vehemence and aural pestilence, Izegrim twists and turns the song with shifts in rhythmic attack and meandering sinewy grooves around a thrash cored spine which in its presence fires up the senses and appetite, the strong start then emulated in strength and quality by the following Decline and Fall. With an open rabidity to every aspect of the track around a gait which lurches and prowls through the ear, the song is an invigorated almost anthemic incitement which leaves attention greedy though it, like quite a few upon the album, fades out for its finale, something which never pleases for personal tastes.
trio came together and set about searching for a guitarist to replace Mitchell who had emigrated to Australia in 2006. With a line-up completed by Shane Haigh and John Rodgers the band set forth into a studio to record Righteous Retribution with Mik Crone. Eighteen months in creation, Righteous Retribution makes up for those absent years of the band with an instant forearm smash between the eyes with the first full storm after the opening introduction Portam AD Infernum. As it ravages the senses it is as if the band has never been away but equally sets them up as a new and still refreshing weapon for thrash/heavy metal. The self-released tempest moves through the evocative introduction seemingly eager to unleash its sinews which within seconds of the following Traitors Gate it does and in rapacious style. Riffs are helping themselves to submission with their voracious and heavy provocation whilst the rhythms of Todd punch and jab like a heavyweight moving swiftly with rapid rabidity. Duffy maybe surprisingly, soon shows he has not lost any of his strength and animosity, his vocal attack welcoming and grizzled, infectious and gnarly. The track has a definite Metallica/Exodus like breath which arguably was expected but equally the track stomps across the passions with a hunger and contagion which is pure Toranaga.