Manilla Road at Myspace

Manilla Road’s latest release, Voyager, is a decent effort, if not quite up to the level of some of the band’s previous work. Mark Shelton’s voice isn’t what it used to be; while his nasal delivery was somewhat hard to get into before, I enjoyed it because it sounded like the Monarch from Venture Bros. was fronting a metal band. Now, he just sounds middle-aged and tired, and makes some truly pathetic attempts at death growls. Fortunately, though, his songwriting skill and guitar playing have not deteriorated one iota.

I didn’t like Voyager’s lyrics as much as those of earlier Manilla Road albums; it’s a concept album, and the story’s some silly stuff about Vikings conquering South America or something along those lines. I greatly preferred the more diverse approach used on earlier Manilla Road albums. There’s a surprising amount of acoustic material here; a few tracks have no electric guitar at all, which is a nice change of pace. I also liked the organ intro to the song “Blood Eagle”. The rhythm section doesn’t  really distinguish itself well on this record; the drums sound a bit clanky and the bass is nearly inaudible.

If you’re new to Manilla Road, this album isn’t the place to start; however, that doesn’t mean that it’s bad; it’s just a bit different from the rest of the band’s catalog. You’d probably be better off starting with the band’s 80s material.

Tyrant at myspace

Welcome to the early 1980’s as Tyrant (not to be confused with the band who would eventually evolve into The Legion) take us on a magical mystery tour through the best that Black/Thrash has to offer. Taking influence from Bathory, Venom, Motorhead, Darkthrone and Celtic Frost, “Reclaim the Flame” has a melodic groove; not melodic in a Gothenburg way, but melodic in a drunken singalong to “Ace of Spades” or “Black Metal” sort of way. The riffs and melodies get stuck in your head with minimal effort and you can’t help but sing along to mid paced thumpers like “Uprise”.

Like a lot of Black Metal inspired releases, the production isn’t pristine which is a godsend as this album wouldn’t be half as entertaining if it had the same productions as say the new Satyricon album. The grimy and deep guitar tone gives Tyrant the sort of guitar sound that Venom or Hellhammer would have killed for 25 years ago. This is a pretty big claim to make on the strength of a debut album, but I feel Tyrant may proves themselves over their discography in years to come to be the band that Darkthrone now want to be but seemingly aren’t able to be. Not the Darkthrone of lore, but the Darkthrone of “The Cult of Alive” and the following albums. Whereas “The Cult of Alive” was tedious after several listens, “Reclaim the Flame” is a captivating piece of singalong thrash/black metal. Hopefully Tyrant can keep this quality going for the rest of their careers, as “Reclaim the Flame” is a stellar debut.

Hyades at myspace

Italians Hyades are another band who are bringing the thrash back to the metal scene. The first comparisons on the looking at the cover art and track listing would be Anthrax and Municipal Waste, with the irreverent Ed Repka artwork and track titles such as “wops still thrash” (yes the song is actually called that!) giving the impression this is non-serious party thrash like the aforementioned bands and Bonded by Blood and Gama Bomb as opposed to the ultra serious style of thrash of say Evile and Warbringer.

The first impressions prove true with “the worst is yet to come” being a perfect record to use the ole proverbial beer bong to. There are some serious songs such as the anti-Bush anthem “Buried in Blood”, but songs such as “Skate Addiction” which validate my initial thoughts on the record but even the serious songs such as “Pharmageddon” and “New World War” give Municipal Waste a run for their money in the fun thrash stakes in overall atmosphere.

Talking of which, Marco Colombo has a similar Surfer drawl as Municipal Waste frontman Tony Foresta albeit with a strong Italian twang which adds a great deal of character to the proceedings though it is hard to work out the lyrics (as if that matters with a vocal delivery and riffs like these!). As a vocalist he seems to have a bit more versatility than Foresta though it only used sparingly as not to spoil the overall “stoner dude” effect.

The music does owe a debt to the Bermuda short wearing ones along with Bay Area overtones. This is beefed up good time thrash just as good to listen to at 2am whilst eating takeout food and playing Xbox 360 games to as headbanging. This my friends, is my soundtrack to hanging out next summer, and who could want more than “the worst is yet to come”. As the band themselves say in “Wops still thrash”; “This album kicks ass”

Violator at myspace

Originally released on Kill Again records in 2006, “Chemical Assault” was reissued by Earache records in Europe in 2008, this debut album from Originally released on Kill Again records in 2006, “Chemical Assault” was reissued by Earache records in Europe in 2008, this debut album from Brasília based thrash act Violator is 80’s sounding in more way than one. The guitar tone and overall recording quality are nearer to the conditions of Destruction and Exodus recording particularly in the guitar tone than say Evile or Gama Bomb. This is both immersive as one can really imagine just for a second that this is a long lost record from 1987 and distracting as the cymbals and hi hats in particular sound too distant and muffled. Whether this was an attempt to get back to the vintage age of thrash in a similar fashion to Witchcraft trying to capture the the feel of 70’s metal or out of necessity due to lack of funds is uncertain.

The music itself mixes Teutonic and bay area elements together to create a sound that might be described as a slightly blackened and a lot less melodic Bonded by Blood era Exodus. This is not a pretty album, it is about raging riffs at fast tempo’s and blistering solo’s rather than beauty. This about war, destruction and thrash; this ain’t a fucking Armored Saint record if you get what I’m saying. Bassist/Vocalist Pedro Arcanjo Has a high pitched stratchy vox similar to the early style of Kreator vocalist Milie Petrozza which greatly adds to the vibe of the record. This a nice piece of retro style thrash and is worth any thrash fan checking out.
based thrash act Violator is 80’s sounding in more way than one. The guitar tone and overall recording quality are nearer to the conditions of Destruction and Exodus recording particularly in the guitar tone than say Evile or Gama Bomb. This is both immersive as one can really imagine just for a second that this is a long lost record from 1987 and distracting as the cymbals and hi hats in particular sound too distant and muffled. Whether this was an attempt to get back to the vintage age of thrash in a similar fashion to Witchcraft trying to capture the the feel of 70’s metal or out of necessity due to lack of funds is uncertain.

The music itself mixes Teutonic and bay area elements together to create a sound that might be described as a slightly blackened and a lot less melodic Bonded by Blood era Exodus. This is not a pretty album, it is about raging riffs at fast tempo’s and blistering solo’s rather than beauty. This about war, destruction and thrash; this ain’t a fucking Armored Saint record if you get what I’m saying. Bassist/Vocalist Pedro Arcanjo Has a high pitched stratchy vox similar to the early style of Kreator vocalist Milie Petrozza which greatly adds to the vibe of the record. This a nice piece of retro style thrash and is worth any thrash fan checking out.

Villains play mid 80’s esque death metal with plenty of influence from the first wave of black metal that sounds like it came straight from a teenager’s basement in 1980’s. I can almost picture it now, the poodle haircuts, the homemade Venom T shirts and the disused ALF merchandise in a corner and that Villains can summon up that vibe as a modern day band is pretty impressive indeed. Yes this hits the spot just right, very primitive nasty stuff; so primitive it would be rejected by the inhabitants of the Stone Age for being too backwards and basic.

This of course is a good thing as with all the technicality and modernity around extreme metal at the moment it’s could to have some bands all about blasting back to the past. At 28 minutes it’s just the right length and if you want a record to knock back the brews to, then well there’s fewer better candidates than “Drenched in the Poisons”.