Odium – As The World Turns Black

Jul20

With next year seeing their 25th anniversary, German melodic thrashers Odium have set it up perfectly with their new album As The World Turns Black. A hungry and imposingly virulent slab of metal, the band’s eighth full length is a band at the top of its game but one still pushing their boundaries and the borders of old school meets modern thrash metal.

Formed in 10993, the Frankfurt hailing quintet has grown to be one of Europe’s most potent if not always openly recognised thrash exponents; a band unafraid to be as boldly infectious as they are aggressively adventurous. Among an increasingly impressing series of releases over the years, the word around is that As The World Turns Black is the band’s finest moment; a suggestion as the Martin Buchwalter (Tankard, SuidAkrA) recorded album roars in ears once again, hard to confidently dispute.

The album opens up with the quickly rousing The end of everything, a beast of a track which from its drone lined sonic seeds springs a web of riffs and grooves which alone has the appetite licking its lips. The rapid fire kicks and jabbing thrusts of drummer Jan Heusel leave an early welcomed impact as riffs nag and tempt; guitarists Rochus Pfaff and David Hübsch swiftly into their inescapable manipulation of neck muscles and imagination. It is stirring stuff given further impetus by the equally anthemic tones of vocalist Ralf Runkel, his swinging delivery incitement alone whilst tendrils of melodic dexterity just seals the deal.

Point of no return ensures the great start is continuous, the song winding grooves around ears straight away as riffs lurk and beats intrude with a controlled hungry edge. With the great grumble of Belinda Ann Smaka’s bass to the fore, the song rapaciously huddles around the listener before unleashing its own swagger loaded, groove veined surge. The bass continues to almost venomously grumble as the contagious exploits of the track leave their anthemic mark, together creating a glorious tapestry of attitude honed incitement.

The calmer waters of No goodbye comes next, emotive melodies wrapping the imagination as a subsequent wash of reflective vocals and restrained intensity looms. Of course things ignite with feistier intent though still the song has a reserve compared to its predecessors which adds to its magnetic and skilfully woven persuasion before Blind sets another memorable marker. The bass of Smaka again seduces instincts for irritable basslines, its grumble a persistent lure within the more tempestuous blaze of guitars. Though its chorus is maybe not as commanding as others around it, the track is just as manipulative with its devilish hooks and ravenous riffs as Runkel enticingly growls from their midst.

Every track has a contagion loaded temptation in their plans, it overcoming any possible resistance with varied tenacity across the album but no more irresistibly than within Revolution. The song is a call to arms in sound and heart, courting its arousal with just as striking invention and unpredictable twists but never detouring from its predacious core before Frozen world descends just as rapaciously on ears. Again it is impossible not to swept up in antagonistic torrents and aggressive catchiness though the track misses the more unique twists and bolder moves of surrounding songs to grab personal tastes as forcibly as others. In saying that its melodic caresses are simply tantalising and pleasure never less than full as with the more barbarous exploits of Time is a killer where riffs and rhythms alone prey on the senses. Almost carnal in nature and tone, the track is superb, another invitation for the spirit and emotions to get thickly involved.

The album’s title track follows and quickly has attention cast in a web of melodic enterprise and intrigue, every subsequent tendril a suggestion in sound explored by Riunkel. Bringing another fresh spice and aspect to the release, the song is a tenacious croon unable to keep its riotous instincts in check and only growing more compelling because of it.

Closed up by the rhythmically commanding and sonically conspiring Inside the Incubus, the track a nefarious invitation turning into a bullish stomp, As The World Turns Black leaves greed and exhaustion in its wake. It is a full-on trespass which rewards submission with a tapestry of melodic fascination. For the second time in a week we have to say, here is one of the most enjoyable and invigorating thrash encounters of recent years.

As The World Turns Black is out now via Black Sunset / MDD across most online stores.

Upcoming live shows

August – Hasselroth, Rock in Schröth Open Air
November – Nijmegen (NL), Rockcafe Backstage

http://odium-metal.de/ https://www.facebook.com/odium.thrashmetal/

Pete RingMaster 19/07/2017

Toxik – Breaking Class

Jul19

As the number of metal bands returning after extensive breaks or simply break-ups often decades earlier keeps going up so are the amount of impressive releases emerging from these reunions. Adding to the list and almost heading it is the new EP from US thrashers Toxik. Offering three tracks of the genre in its old school breeding, Breaking Class is everything that is irresistible within thrash metal with a healthy freshness linked to experience that newcomers can only learn from and be inspired by.

Subsequently one of the most potent forces with thrash once emerging in 1985, New York hailing Toxik released a pair of increasingly recognised as classic albums in World Circus (1987) and Think This (1989) as well as built a potent live stature which included sharing stages and touring with the likes of King Diamond, Testament, Dream Theater, Exodus, Pantera, Candlemass and many more. Disbanding in 1982, interest in the band was clearly evident with the release of a pair of live DVDs in 2007 and 2010. Announcing their return three years after the second DVD with Shadows Fall’s Jason Bittner replacing original drummer Tad Leger, Toxik very successfully toured Europe and South America showing the lingering support for the band. Since then the line-up has seen James D’Maria of Generation Kill replacing Bittner and vocalist Charles Sabin (from the band’s second album, Think This) taking over from original frontman Mike Sanders as well as bassist Shane Boulos linking up with band founder and guitarist Josh Christian. It is a unit which seems to be a perfect fit as Breaking Class ravages the senses, an organic roar driving its rapacious sound and intent from the EP’s opening seconds.

Those first moments come courtesy of Stand Up, the track spiralling from an initial sample woven lure with wiry guitar swirling around senses jabbing beats. Straight away instincts for anthemic metal are awoken, vocals a rousing incitement backed by hungry riffs and a brooding bass line which almost dances with an established appetite for its flavours. There is a great Anthrax like tenacity and tone to the track around its chorus but equally a modern crossover essence bringing whiffs of bands such as Suicidal Tendencies and Municipal Waste into play but all spices assimilated in a proposal familiar, new, and distinct to Toxik.

The outstanding start is more than matched by the EP’s title track, Breaking Class a devilish surge of riffs and whipping rhythms fuelled by an energy and devilment just as evident in Sabin’s instinctively persuasive vocals and tenacity. Christian similarly has ears and imagination hooked with his aggressive and inventive web of riffs and sonic enterprise, never allowing the listener to settle without adding a new twist then another then….

As compelling as it is riotous, the track is itself more than matched by the closing Psyop; that healthy brew of flavours within the opener uncaged again within its more predatory climate and gait and again involved in an adventurous and almost challengingly unpredictable proposal. It maybe old school nurtured but the song, as its companions, show that does not mean things have to be restrained in boldness and imagination and they certainly are not in the hands of Toxik.

With hints of a new album in the works, it is as if Toxik has never been away just taking their time to create what is one of the most enjoyable thrash stomps of recent years.

The Breaking Class EP is released August 4^th with re-ordering available now @ https://toxik.bandcamp.com/album/breaking-class

https://www.facebook.com/TOXIKMETAL/

Pete RingMaster 18/07/2017

Whorehouse – Corporation

Jul7

Eight years ago, Polish thrashers Whorehouse sparked eager attention and broad acclaim with debut album Execution of Humanity. Just recently they unleashed its highly anticipated successor and fair to say it has not taken long for similar reactions to crowd the ferocious roar of Corporation, an album which grabs the listener by the scruff of the neck and hurls them into a brawling, rousing tide of thrash goodness.

Formed in 1995, the Cracow outfit grab the open inspiration of Bay Area thrash for their hungry, social and politically savaging sound. For a band which has been around twenty years, it is maybe a touch surprising that Corporation is only their second album though any length of wait is quickly forgotten once the accomplished tempest of sound and intent is uncaged. Recorded by Dominik Burzym (Mord’A’Stigmata, Atrophia Red Sun) at Studio 67, Corporation flies from the blocks with its title track, guitars gathering their creative thoughts and textures before sending a tide of familiar thrash nurtured but fresh riffs through ears. Rhythms punch and poke with equal hunger, the vocals solo and in band unison as arousing and anthemic as the sounds around them and in no time participation with its chorus alone is lustfully offered. With the guitars creating a web of sonic enterprise across its latter and still relentlessly contagious body, the song makes for an irresistible start.

It is a pleasure trapping success quickly emulated by The Same Old War, the following track a surge of nagging riffs and growling vocals as the bass groans and beats venomously swing. Again involvement with its antagonistic contagion is easy and full, an appetite for the melodic flames shooting across rapacious exploits unstoppable as Whorehouse again colour their sonic storm with imagination catching craft and boldness.

Toxic Dance similarly has body and thoughts bouncing; spicy grooves colluding with predacious riffs from the start before things again settle into a ravenous flow of tenacious riffs and biting rhythms nurtured in the inspirations of bands such as Exodus and Testament. In no time the track is a boiling, brawling incitement of prime thrash metal before Payback launches its own tirade of animosity and torrent of skilfully crafted thrash rabidity. As much as the core riffs, as in all songs, are soaked in genre familiarity, the guitars soon twist things up with their melodic enterprise and sonic unpredictability, a mix matched in the vocals and the uncompromising rhythms led by the magnetically snarling bass.

The virulent savagery of W.W.W.A.W.W.B (We Were, We Are, We Will Be) floods through ears soon after, its tone toxic and defiant, its sound just as incendiary with some of the most delicious hooks and grooves to be found on any thrash album in recent times while Invaders infests the senses with wiry grooves as a torrent of creative drama infects every note and twist within the best track moment within Corporation. It is a status closely challenged across the album to be honest, the following The Silent Unseen making its bid with a furious and volatile contagion so easy to get greedy over.

Anguis In Herba brings things to a powerful close, the track the most imaginative and creatively dramatic on the release. The instrumental is cinematic in its air and striking in its texture rich tapestry of sound. It provides a fine end to an album difficult to pull away from; certainly one helping at a time is not nearly enough to satisfy an appetite for one of the most enjoyable thrash proposals of recent times.

Corporation is available now through Defense Records.

https://www.facebook.com/krkareathrash/ https://www.metal-archives.com/albums/Whorehouse/Corporation/651478

Pete RingMaster 04/07/2017

Ferocious velocity: exploring the creative fuel of Crypitus

Jun23

Unafraid to mix a wealth of different styles into their already multi-flavoured metal, US trio Crypitus is a force on the rise. Rising up through the Vermont music scene, the threesome of Doug Friend, Zach Patch, and Peter Snee have become an attention grabbing, mosh pit inciting proposition. 2017 is already proving their biggest and most potent yet and with their first release imminent we got down to exploring the heart of Crypitus with thanks to the trio, talking origins, music, and making opportunities….

Hi guys, thanks for taking time out to talk with us.

Can you first introduce the band and give us some background to how you got together?

Doug: We are Crypitus “The HomeGrown Vermont Metal Band” which includes myself, Doug (guitarist/vocalist), Pete (guitarist), and Zach (percussionist). Crypitus was my first project with songs that I started as early as 2011. I had an old friend that I played with through high school but we ended up going separate ways. Me and Pete moved in together in early 2016 and he picked up some of my riffs. We couldn’t find a drummer until we came across Zach’s Facebook post that he was essentially looking for a band to play with so we kicked it into gear and I cannot believe how far we’ve gone!

Zach: Well I guess Facebook brought us together if you want to get technical, but I know that, in reality, it was fate. I was desperately searching the internet for local musicians to jam with and Pete and Doug were the first clowns to respond. The rest is history.

Pete: We are Crypitus! Doug and I jammed a bit when we were roommates and decided to find a drummer together. We met Zach on Facebook and Crypitus was born as it is today.

Have you been involved in other bands before? If so has that had any impact on what you are doing now?

Doug: Crypitus is my baby, my first and only band, but as the years goes by the speed picks up, the riffs get tighter and I watch my own personal experience shape my songs, it’s actually really cool to see.

Zach: Since I was like 15, if I wasn’t actively in a band, I was working my ass off to grow as a musician. Every musician I’ve played with has influenced me in one way or another, one even tried to kill me. I can say, after playing heavy metal for so many years, I was ready to play some more groovy tunes, but, alas-fate.

Pete: I was in a blues rock band before Crypitus and while it was fun, I wanted to play heavier music. I’ve jammed with plenty of musician friends over the years but this is the first band I’ve played shows with.

What inspired the band name?

Doug: The band’s name actually was thought of by one of my old teachers. We were learning about wilderness first aid one day and he comes up to me and exclaims “You know what would be a sick metal band name?! Crepitus; it’s the sound of bones breaking” Low and behold somehow I pulled a Dave Mustaine and now we are Crypitus!

Was there any specific idea behind the forming of the band and also in what you wanted it and your sound to offer?

Doug: The idea I had was basically an old school thrash revival with a new age kick and a good blend of other bits of my favorite sub genres, creating a rounded bone crunching sound!

Zach: I was just glad to find someone to rock out with. Doug already had those ideas, but as for me, I want my drumming to sound radical enough so that when people see Crypitus play, they’ll never forget it.

Pete: Doug had a bunch of songs already written but we’ve added our own personality to them. We all had pretty similar musical tastes so after jamming together for a bit it just clicked.

Do the same things and ideas still drive the band from when it was fresh-faced or have they evolved over time?

Doug: Both are true honestly, since the songs were constructed by me the drive is still the same but since we have been play together for about a year, it’s hard not to evolve as you grow accustom to each other as musicians.

Zach: I still have the same drive as I did day one- have a blast, be unforgettable, act professional so they beg you to come back.

Pete: From the beginning we’ve all been driven by wanting to share our music and jam out in front of an audience. That definitely still drives us today, especially when we write new songs and can’t wait to play them live.

Since your early days, how would you say your sound has grown and evolved?

Doug: We have definitely gained way more energy and speed!

Zach: Our music has gotten so freakin’ fast! You can hear just how much we’ve grown as a band for yourself. Listen to one of our first live recordings on YouTube, then listen to a recent version of the same song. I did and I was like, woah!

Pete: We’ve sped up a bit but we’ve also evolved as musicians, both separately and together. When we write a new song and we’re each adding our own flavor, we build on what each other is playing as opposed to just playing our own parts.

Everything has been an organic movement, in sound etc. or more the band deliberately going out to try new things?

Doug: Definitely organic, I haven’t had anything to say about our sound besides just trying to get tighter!

Zach: our sound is 100% certified organic 😉

Pete: The new songs sound like a natural progression of the songs we played at first, I think. Crypitus sounds like, and always will, sound like Crypitus.

Presumably across the band there is a wide range of inspirations; are there any in particular which have impacted not only on the band’s music but your personal approach and ideas to creating and playing music?

Doug: I am heavily influenced by the songs of Megadeth and Death and a lot of the bands to come out of the New Wave of Thrash Metal.

Zach: Every show we play there’s a band or all the bands that absolutely blow us away. We watch and learn whenever and wherever we can.

Pete: I get bored listening to the same music over and over so I like to listen to a bit of everything. When I get stuck inspirationally, I like to listen to The Beatles or Pink Floyd…their really simplistic songs let my mind get back to the basics of chord progression and harmony.

Is there a particular process to your songwriting?

Doug: We have mostly have been catching up with a backlog of songs I’ve written in the past, although pretty soon there will be some sick new material!

Zach: I guess my process is wait ‘till they write something and then try every idea I have until I find the right one; it’s all trial and error.

Pete: Doug will come up with a riff and we’ll all play it together. After a while playing it and changing parts, we have a song. It’s a lot of in-the-moment songwriting; changing up a harmony this time we play it or how many measures we play a section that time.

Where do you, more often than not, draw the inspirations to the lyrical side of your songs?

Doug: I draw my lyrical inspiration from worldly turmoil and human misdeeds. Metal has always been about bringing light to the dark for me.

Please give us some backgrounds to your latest release.

Doug: Our first/next release is our demo! Exhibit 1: Prelude to the Dead World will feature some of our favorite/hit songs Breakdown, Tundra, and Thunder. Keep your eyes peeled! It’s going to be killer!

Pete: Our upcoming release is three songs we’ve been playing from the start: Breakdown, Tundra, and Thunder. We jammed to those when we played with Zach for the first time, so it’s only fitting it’s our first release.

Would you give us some insight to the themes and premise behind it and its songs.

Doug: Breakdown is a song I wrote to portray mental conflict and insanity. Tundra is a song that portrayed the idea of transcendentalism and isolation “Into the bitter abyss, can’t get better than this, tundra tundra let me have this!” And the final song Thunder is basically a warning to the world, if you don’t respect Mother Earth, she will bite back.

Are you a band which goes into the studio with songs pretty much in their final state or prefer to develop them as you record?

Doug: For this release we were very well prepared going in!

Zach: The songs are always finished when we record. Our shits gotta be tight.

Pete: We have all our parts pretty planned out when we record.

Tell us about the live side to the band, presumably the favourite aspect of the band?

Doug: Stage presence and energy is definitely what makes the show!

Zach: I think the favorite aspect of Crypitus live is the energy we bring. Doug’s running in circles around the crowd, starting the moshing, sometimes dressed as a taco. Myself, I prefer clown shenanigans.

Pete: My favorite part of playing live, besides the crowd, is watching Doug’s shenanigans. He’s always running around while playing, starting mosh pits.

It is not easy for any new band to make an impact regionally let alone nationally and further afield. How have you found it your neck of the woods? Are there the opportunities to make a mark if the drive is there for new bands?

Doug: In our neck of the woods there aren’t a whole lot of opportunities and for the most part none of the bars in our town are allowing heavy music. But more recently than not our local record store has opened its doors to live music, I can’t wait to see what Rick and Kats Howlin’ Mouse does for the local scene! But being from Vermont I was hell bent to play anywhere new to have new people turn their heads.

Zach: I think no matter where you are, nothing is going to happen unless you make it happen. No matter the scene in what neck of the woods, if you put your best effort in, it will pay off.

Pete: We’ve had some issues playing in our town in the past. Venues are few and far between and there aren’t too many promoters in our area. If you’re willing to drive out of state though, there are plenty of shows going on always looking for new bands to book. All it takes is some social media presence, at which Doug is a master.

How has the internet and social media impacted on the band to date?

Doug: Without social media it would have been a wicked challenge to be where we are now.

Zach: Social media is priceless. Way more effective than posting flyers, although we’ve done that recently. I also think, at least as far as promoting our band goes, social media will always be a priceless tool.

Pete: Besides a couple in-person hook ups, most of our shows are booked through social media. Having a Bandcamp or SoundCloud is very important, I think. Even if it’s just ripped from live videos, when I check out a band I like to be able to hear some of their songs.

Once again a big thanks for sharing time with us; anything you would like to add or reveal for the readers?

Doug: Follow us on Facebook to keep an eye out for the demo, I also plan on uploading it to Bandcamp as well! Thanks for the interview RingMaster!

https://www.facebook.com/crypitus/ https://crypitus.bandcamp.com/

The RingMaster Review 23/06/2017

One Last Shot – Even Cowboys Have Sundays

Jun20

Pretty much three years after impressing with their debut EP, French rockers One Last Shot have unleashed their first album to once again have ears and plaudits aroused by their dirt encrusted sound. Even Cowboys Have Sundays is a roar of thrash nurtured ferocity and sonic southern rock liquor but an incitement as punk as it is metal as it is unbridled rock ‘n’ roll.

With their musical instincts and passions raised on nineties thrash metal, the Paris quintet soon stirred local support after emerging with a sound soon drawing comparisons to the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Motörhead, and Guns N’ Roses. It was the First Gear EP in 2014 which sparked broader attention at home and further afield; its bold character and bruising sound as contagious as it was aggressive. Even Cowboys Have Sundays follows in the same vein; bringing a host of flavours, familiar yet forcibly fresh, in a strain of rock ‘n’ roll self-termed as dust metal. Equally though, the album reveals a richer vein of individualism in sound and imaginative songwriting as maturity and adventure collude in a clutch of tracks which feel like old friends in some ways but a voracious new adventure in many more aspects.

Opening with The Gambler, One Last Shot swiftly has appetite and imagination caught, its opening sultry lure of guitar an intoxication soon swallowed by a wall of wiry riffs and robust rhythms. Yet there is a control to the assault which seamlessly embraces more of a prowling than demanding gait as vocals add their own raw but captivating texture to the mix. An unpredictable nature to its overall attack is just as appetising though the song never releases its full aggressive venom, preferring to seduce with melodic and sonic enterprise with its own persuasive toxicity.

One Last Shot – Even Cowboys Have Sundays

A great start is quickly matched and pushed on by One Night Stand, a blaze of classic rock and punk ‘n’ roll with a touch of UK band The Senton Bombs to its irritable contagion. As with its predecessor, and indeed most tracks, involving the listener in body and voice is swift; the encounter another lustfully catchy proposal with a slew of rapacious hooks and swinging energy across its dirty holler before Embrace The Fire draws on old school rock ‘n’ roll for its particular rousing romp. Like a blend of Volbeat and Grumpynators, the song harasses and seduces the instincts to beat one’s rock ‘n’ roll chest; the senses entangled in the melodic rapacity of the guitars as bass and drums drive things with matching zeal. The track is superb, rock from the fifties through to modern day seemingly bullied into one compelling stomp.

The variety of sound and ideation within the album is already apparent by the fourth song and continued as Thou Shall Be Drunk creates a proposition part melodic metal and part grunge punk, all with a nineties toning while Join The Club offers a merger of punk metal and sinuous heavy rock. Both songs are twisted and moulded into seriously enticing temptations with the first especially anthemic and irresistible.

The excellent Hell Mariachi (A Mexican Interlude) takes the imagination into the heart of the desert heat, the two sides of The Bronx mixed with East Coast trash for another mouth-watering and seriously compelling exploit within Even Cowboys Have Sundays; that new maturity and bold imagination within One Last Shot united in an eager charge.

That thrash breeding within the band is in full voracity within Live Fast And Die Young and indeed It’s All About Speed straight after. The first of the two is a chug fest of nagging riffs bound in lustful grooves as vocals, single and mob handed, arouse the spirit even further with an anthemic roar as lustful and unapologetic as the sounds around them. With the guitars weaving a glorious web of melodic dexterity, the song simply rocks before its successor uncages its grubby rock ‘n’ roll to continue the manipulation of the listener’s body and spirit; the track a potent persuasion even if missing some of the vital and unique sparks of earlier tracks.

Closing up with the fiery fusion of predatory metal and imposing heavy rock of We Don’t Call 911 and lastly the groove entangled bellow of I Feel Alright, the song a tenacious web of resourceful and eventful enterprise, Even Cowboys Have Sundays leaves the spirit alive and just a little over excited. The album is a charge of commanding adventure built with recognisable and original textures and bound in a fresh and striking imagination. Their First Gear EP, stirred up a form appetite for their sound, now the album has unlocked a lust which will surely infest many others and deservedly install One Last Shot as someone to heartily recommend to all.

Even Cowboys Have Sundays is out now via JFF Records and available @ https://onelastshotofficial.bandcamp.com/album/even-cowboys-have-sundays

http://olsband.com/ https://www.facebook.com/onelastshotofficial https://twitter.com/OLSBANDOFFICIAL

Pete RingMaster 20/06/2017

Dead Asylum – Death Always Wins

Jun1

It is hard not to be enamoured with the Canadian underground metal scene and the number of striking and very often seriously impressive bands it spawns so it is not a surprise to find another making a sizable addition to the list. They are Vancouver quartet Dead Asylum who through new album Death Always Wins leave no hiding place from their ravenous blend of melodic death and thrash metal with plenty more things on offer. It is a creative scourge relentlessly harassing body, senses, and imagination but rewarding each in return.

Emerging to the rear of 2011, Dead Asylum lured attention and praise in their second year with debut album General Carnage. Time since has seen their reputation especially as a live force escalate; the band sharing stages with the likes of Anvil, Toxic Holocaust, Warbringer, Exmortus, Soulfly, and Soilwork, as well as touring across their homeland into the US and play alongside bands such as Suffocation, Bison BC, and Holy Grail at numerous festivals. Now they have Death Always Wins to offer up, and straight away it shows itself one of those encounters which quickly has you thinking broader attention and opportunities are lying in wait for its creators. Time will tell if it bullies and seduces that success but certainly the album has stamped Dead Asylum down as a band to take real notice of.

Instantly the album consumes ears in virulent grooves and rapacious riffs, Defiance fuelled by a vocal animus as rhythms plunder the senses. The grievously magnetic vocal attack comes from rhythm guitarist Mike Lister and bassist Roger Mowat, their interchanging and entangling deliveries as venomously intrusive and compelling as the sounds around them. Thereon in lead guitarist Eric Morrison spins and spreads a web of grooves and melodic toxicity, his enterprise entwining around the punishing yet equally virulent and rousing assault of drummer Samantha Landa. Infectiously nagging and trespassing ears and imagination, the track is a superb arousal of the senses to explosively set things off.

The album’s title track is next, unleashing its own hungry grooves and barbarous beats within seconds as vocals share a cancer of expression and word. Death Always Wins equally conjures a labyrinth of melodic and sonic craft to expand its temptation, one flooded by a pestilential infectiousness based on a thrash breeding which is rabid and irresistible.

Somehow things become even more predatory within Between Me and the Grave, the track initially prowling with ill-intent before accosting ears in a primal surge of carnivorous riffs and grooves as Landa brings even greater malice and swing to her rhythmic trespass. At times there is something of the likes of Soilwork and Scar Symmetry to the encounter, the band’s Swedish death metal inspirations open if twisted into Dead Asylum’s own creative antipathy within this and surrounding tracks like Bury the Living; another corrosive barrage of invention and dexterity bred on imagination and unpredictability. Whether the Dead Asylum sound is truly unique can be debated yet as this song alone shows, it has a memorable character and adventure which sets it firmly apart from the crowd.

Forgotten Sacrifice with its senses niggling grooves and instinctive grudge fires up the passions yet again, the track a skilfully sculpted blur of hostility and sonic violence twisted by Morrison’s vitriolic grooves and entrancing citric melodies and further scarred by Landa’s intrusive rhythms and the vocal rancor of Lister and Mowat.

Through the bestial dance of Bred to Die and the malignantly seductive fire of Welcome, ears and appetite for extreme adventure are gripped, the second of the pair especially enthralling with its almost exotic charm and jaundiced tapestry of sound. Neither quite have the little extra which makes their predecessors so incendiary for the imagination but each adds a potent reason to acclaim the album before final track Inmate 666 seals an already done deal with its psychotically bred and insatiable invasion of thrash death rancor. The track is glorious, an exhilarating end to a mutually riveting release.

Dead Asylum will be new to many, after Death Always Wins they will surely be the lust for a great many more.

Death Always Wins is released June 2^nd through https://deadasylum.bandcamp.com/album/death-always-wins

http://www.thedeadasylum.com/ https://www.facebook.com/deadasylum https://twitter.com/DeadAsylummetal

Pete RingMaster 01/06/2017

Running Death – DressAge

May26

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 26^th via Punishment 18 Records and @ https://runningdeath.bandcamp.com/