Speed Metal

Acid Blade, Power Dive (Personal Records 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The first full-length album from Acid Blade breathes fire and stomps the terra: Power Dive.

Acid Blade is a heavy metal band from Dresden, Germany who play in a classic metal style at an elevated tempo. They started out in 2019 as Angel Blade, releasing a demo and a split with Venator over the course of a year. Changing their name in 2021, they put out one more demo and now Power Dive, their first full-length album. The band is Sci-Man (bass), Eric Nukem (drums), Alvin Goreman (guitar), Luke Lethal (guitar), Klay Mensana (vocals).

The music starts with a clomping riff on “Hot Bloods on the Loose,” leading to a rising, then soaring, vocal as the tempo changes. Moving past formative hard rock and metal into speed metal, the general echoing you hear brings on waves of nostalgia. “Ablaze at Midnight” is another barn burner. You could say it is stepped down a touch, but more importantly it rolls out a long lead guitar part that turns into the off ramp for the song, reproducing a maneuver that I used to hear regularly but haven’t noticed for some time now. The title track takes the third spot, and it has steady, anticipation-inducing build toward the big break out. After that, it’s off to the races.

The 1980s metal style is ever-present throughout the record, and it is the defining characteristic of the music. Even if this is not your go-to metal vein, Mensana’s vocals are compelling and the guitar work is impeccable, so it is worth dipping your toe in. The music has many fascinating innovations, as you will hear in the eerie middle ground of “Into the Light” and the otherworldly insight of “The Tomb of Khentika Ikheki,” a song that will pong around in your brain for a good long while. There is even a power ballad, “Moonless Night,” for those of you who miss that long-time standard. Something for everyone, you might say. Recommended.

Power Dive is out now on digital and will be released on CD by Personal Records on Friday, December 2nd. Get the facts at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://acidblade.bandcamp.com/album/power-dive

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/acidblade.rock/

Personal Records, https://www.personal-records.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Acid Blade, Power Dive (Personal Records 2022)

Photo Gallery: Midnight, Cincinnati, November 4, 2022

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Midnight, https://totalmidnight.webs.com/

Main FFMB article, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/11/08/mercyful-fate-at-the-andrew-j-brady-music-center-november-4-2022/

The Andrew J. Brady Music Center, https://bradymusiccenter.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Photo Gallery: Midnight, Cincinnati, November 4, 2022

Critical Defiance, No Life Forms (Unspeakable Axe 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

South American thrash metal band Critical Defiance returns with their sophomore album, No Life Forms.

Critical Defiance is from Chile, and they have been playing thrash metal in that vibrant scene since 2013. The new record follows the success of the band’s 2019 debut long-player Misconception, and it is a mighty step forward. Proceeding from the standard of early thrash lines, the music you will hear is rendered at high-speed and set to disrupt. Critical Defiance is not very concerned about where the border lines are in heavy music – they crank it up and do what they want, mixing in some delightful surprises. The band is Mauricio Toledo (guitar, vocals), Rodrigo Poblete (drums), Felipe Alvarado (vocals, guitar), Ignacio Arevalo (bass), and Javier Salgado (guitar).

There are ten tracks on the new album. Many are on the short side, with four running under three minutes. The kick-off is “A World Crumbling Apart.” Faithful to the title, this song comes at you from all directions at once, demonstrating apparent chaos. The speed is dizzying and there is a lot going on for a song that runs less than two minutes. It all sorts out in your head and the aggression and perfectly paced fretting gets the gears turning. “The Last Crusaders…Bringers of Death!” chomps at the bit all the way through. The vocals are urgent and forceful, and the rhythm section is deliberate and careening. The first guitar solo is executed with tripping ferocity while the second one is more melodic. It is an excellent combination. And then “Altering The Senses” pivots between a groove riff and a blistering rager. This album does not allow you to become complacent.

Other stand-out tracks for me are “Elephant,” which has a sort of jazz lounge thrash beginning before opening the gates of speed, and “Warhead,” a composition that is completely off the rails. A transition piece leads into the closer which is the title track and the longest song on the album. It is fantastic, displaying both the most patience of any piece on the album, and the greatest sense of completed energy. Thrash definitely lives on this record. Recommended.

No Life Forms is out now through Unspeakable Axe Records.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://criticaldefiance.bandcamp.com/album/no-life-forms

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/criticaldefiance

Unspeakable Axe Records, http://www.unspeakableaxerecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Critical Defiance, No Life Forms (Unspeakable Axe 2022)

Kreator, Hate Über Alles (Nuclear Blast 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

German thrash legends Kreator are back to shred the bare earth with Hate Über Alles.

Kreator is one of the most prolific and influential European thrash (and speed) metal bands. Taking the name Kreator in 1984 after trying on a few others, they released their first full-length album in 1985, Endless Pain, followed almost immediately (the next year) by Pleasure To Kill. The thrash has flowed ever since as one classic after another was brought forth. It has been five years since the last studio album Gods Of Violence and fans are chomping at the bit for more hair-raising metal. The band is founders Miland “Mille” Petrozza (vocals, guitar) and Jürgen “Ventor” Reil (drums), joined by long-time member Sami Yli-Sirniö (guitar) and relative newcomer Frédéric Leclercq (bass).

There are ten songs and an intro piece, “Sergio Corbucci Is Dead,” on Hate Über Alles, and it breaks out in a dead run on the title track right after the calming ramp. This is Kreator from the first note – a careening juggernaut hellbent on its objective. Blast beats, a commanding bass line, Petrozza telling you the score, and, of course, the blazing, blistering guitar shreds.

Every song is a powerful statement made in metal. “Crush The Tyrants” slows the tempo a bit but keeps in all the heavy. “Strongest Of The Strong” has a melodic take while “Conquer And Destroy” begins with a reflective cadence and inserts battering passages along the way to make its point. “Midnight Sun” employs the beautiful voice of Sofia Portanet to deepen and shade the thrash that surrounds her.

My favorite tracks come toward the end of the album. “Demonic Future” is a dizzying construct with a melodic chorus that ensures the song cannot be forgotten. “Dying Planet” is the final song on the album, and the longest one as well. It feels like the biggest, too, and not just because of its length. The weight of the composition, its tone and theme, and its resolving moments are poignant. This album is going to be a big one for Kreator fans, and it reaches across the aisle to anyone who wants to join in the pit. Recommended.

Hate Über Alles is out now through Nuclear Blast Records in an array of variants and formats.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://kreator.bandcamp.com/

Website, https://www.kreator-terrorzone.de/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/KreatorOfficial

Nuclear Blast Records, https://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/products/sound/cd/cd/kreator-hate-ueber-alles.html

© Wayne Edwards

Kreator, Hate Über Alles (Nuclear Blast 2022)

Destruction, Diabolical (Napalm Records 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

German thrash legends Destruction celebrate forty years of mayhem with their fifteenth studio album, Diabolical.

The story of Destruction stretches back to 1982 when they first operated as Knight Of Demon. Quickly changing their name to the more familiar current one, the 1984 demo the band put out shook things up. Infernal Overkill (1985) and Eternal Devastation (1986) followed quickly, and when the Mad Butcher EP dropped in 1987, Destruction was on a path that could not be denied.

There have been a few shakeups in the lineup lately with the notable departure of co-founder Mike Sifringer last year. As disruptive as that could have been, Destruction pressed on and has created an excellent new album. On Diabolical, founding bassist and vocalist Schmier (Marcel Schirmer) is joined by Martin Furia (guitar), Randy Black (drums), and Damir Eskić (guitar).

Talking about the new album, Martin Furia said, “Diabolical is an album of extremes, everything is more brutal and more technical but at the same time more melodic and to the point. It’s a pure and devastating Destruction album with no gimmicks, full of power and adrenaline.” Some of that sounds a little contradictory, but it is not at all. The speed is furious, the technical performance is flawless, and the songs are filled with hooks and great choruses.

“Under The Spell” wakes the music gently, then builds on a march toward the rampage that is “Diabolical.” The Destruction sound is there – the pace, the shreds, the voice. This is everything fans are looking for. One great track after another follows, with stand-outs like “Hope Dies Last” and “The Last Of A Dying Breed.”

Other favorites for me are “Tormented Soul” as it has a powerful clomping pace that hammers a heavy tone in hard, and “Servant Of The Beast” that offers a careening wallop that’ll take your breath away. The closer is a cover, “City Baby Attacked By Rats,” that brings a little hardcore into the mix. I didn’t see that one coming. All signs point to Destruction being on pace to ravage the stage for years to come. Highly recommended.

Diabolical is out now through Napalm Records. Hard copies are available is many forms, and streaming can be had at all the usual places.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://destruction.bandcamp.com/album/diabolical

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/destruction

Napalm Records, https://napalmrecords.com/english/destruction

© Wayne Edwards.

Destruction, Diabolical (Napalm Records 2022)

Alcatrazz, V (Silver Lining Music 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Los Angeles metal band Alcatrazz returns with their fifth long-player, simply titled V.

Alcatrazz started almost forty years ago in California. Its first phase lasted from about 1983 to 1987 when a hiatus ensued, but not before the band released three albums. Picking back up in 2007, a touring incarnation was in place for a few years. Most recently, Alcatrazz came together again on the edge of the pandemic, putting out the well-received Born Innocent album in 2020. And now, in rapid succession, we have V. The band is Jimmy Waldo (keyboards), Gary Shea (bass), Doogie White (vocals), Joe Stump (guitar), and Mark Benquechea (drums).

The opening song “Guardian Angel” has a real Iron Maiden feel to it, and I mean that in a good way. The delivery lays over on the radio-ready side, even with the ripping guitar shreds. The music is heavily layered and produced, resulting a very polished final product. It goes down smooth. A fine way to start the album.

The keyboards have a large presence throughout the set and they work well with the vocal style. In some ways it is like the second phase of Deep Purple except, again, more in the pop lane. The singer Doogie White is well known, after all, for his vocal performances with Rainbow and Rising Force (among others) so you recognize his signature sound immediately and the compositions are designed with synergy in mind. For me, the music is solidly created and the existence of big lead breaks makes every song worthwhile. Witness “Nightwatch.”

While the music does operate in a definable universe, it offers considerably variety, too. One of my favorite songs is the bluesy “House Of Lies,” and then there is the solemn heavy ballad “Dark Day For My Soul.” Rollicking tunes abound as well as in “Blackheart” and “Target.” There is an old school sensibility here that is tuned into a contemporaneous awareness that results in a new and unique sound. Recommended.

The new album is out now through Silver Lining Music in digipak, digital, and streaming formations.

Band photo by Alex Solca.

Links.

Alcatrazz website, http://www.alcatrazzofficial.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/alcatrazzband

Silver Lining Music, http://sl-music.net/en/releases/259-artists/releases-alcatrazz/984-v

Alcatrazz, V (Silver Lining Music 2021)

Space Chaser, Give Us Life (Metal Blade Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

The third album from Space Chaser is an absolute rampage of blistering thrash.

Formed in Germany in 2011, Space Chaser has promulgated some the most memorable thrash music out there. This five-piece metal machine has released two previous full-length albums, the most recent being Dead Sun Rising in 2016. The new album has all the velocity and ingenuity fans have come to expect. The band is Siegfried Rudzynski (vocals), Leo Schacht (guitar), Martin Hochsattel (guitar), Sebastian Kerlikowski (bass), and Matthias Scheuerer (drums).

If you look at the cover art you will get a pretty good idea about the thematic perspective for Give Us Life. It ranges from techlife to rampaging killing machines to the evolution of a star, as in the title track the band describes this way: “It’s always an act of violence, birth and death. When a star sheds its hull and collapses into a white dwarf it soon will perish like all life, biological or non-biological. If a star goes supernova it explodes and spreads all the elements needed to create life, and the whole process begins anew. Thousands of worlds have to perish, to create new worlds and life of its own.” I am always up for a good story. Still, it is the music that is the most important thing to me.

There are ten tracks on the new album, mostly running at radio length and all of them glistening with speed and power. There are fascinating crooks and turns in nearly every song. I am impressed when a band can find a way to create a pattern I have never heard before, and there are many examples of that very thing in this music.

“Cryoshock” is a stand-out for me – I love the lead work – and the title track is a monster, too. The final track, “Dark Descent,” also captured my imagination with its big build and tempo changes. The laid-out lead guitar toward the end, I can still hear it. I am on board with thrash most of the time and this album ticks that box but it also adds so much more. Recommended.

The street date for Give Us Life is Friday, July 16th and you can get it at the Metal Blade shop or Bandcamp.

Links,

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/SpaceChaserBand

Bandcamp, https://spacechaser.bandcamp.com/album/give-us-life

Metal Blade Records, https://www.metalblade.com/spacechaser/

Space Chaser, Give Us Life (Metal Blade Records 2021)

Flotsam and Jetsam, Blood In The Water (AFM Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

The fourteenth studio album from Flotsam and Jetsam is filled with surging power cranked up and delivered at a relentless pace.

Thirty-five years in, Flotsam and Jetsam are still on the rise. In 2019 the band released The End of Chaos, an album that was bursting with intensity. Blood In The Water is every bit as ambitious and has an even bigger payoff. This is a band that keeps getting better with each passing album. The current line-up is originators Eric AK (vocals) and Michael Gilbert (guitar) who are joined by Steve Conley (guitar), William Bodily (bass), and Ken Mary (drums).

The first Flotsam and Jetsam album I heard was Drift (1995), arriving almost ten years late to the show. I have no explanation for this missing the early signals but I can say that Drift had a big impact on me. Since then I have been an avid follower, addicted to the speed and adrenaline the music conveys. Blood In The Water offers up more of what I have come to expect.

There are twelve songs on the album, starting with the title track, a ferocious eruption that wastes no time on niceties. Each successive track is a new discovery, another step up. “Brace For Impact,” for example, has a soaring lead break setting up a contemplative movement that transitions back into furious metal. “The Wicked Hour” is a speeding car hurtling out of control down a dark desert road and “Reaggression” is dedicated to pummeling your sensibilities flat.

Even when the music has a slow start on songs like “Cry For The Dead” there is still an unmistakable passion and power to them. The closer is “Seven Seconds ’Til the End Of The World,” and it is filled with dire descriptions and warnings – and high-speed metal carried away on impossible percussion. It is incredible that Flotsam and Jetsam and still creating such exciting new music. Don’t miss out. Recommended.

Blood In The Water is out now. The AFM Records shop is a good place to go, and the band has a shop as well with more music and merch.

Links.

F&J website, https://www.flotstildeath.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/flotsamandjetsam.official

AFM Records, https://shop.afm-records.de/flotsam-and-jetsam/

Flotsam and Jetsam, Blood In The Water (AFM Records 2021)

Vulture, Dealin’ Death (Metal Blade Records 2021)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

Vulture comes raging back with more speed and thrash on Dealin’ Death.

It is easy to think that the best days of Thrash Metal are behind us because so many iconic albums came out all those years ago. If you look around at the music back then you find that there is a lot of bands you did not know about that made high-speed, solid, and aggressive music that somehow slipped past you. Similarly, new thrash has come out consistently over the years, and, if anything, there has been a resurgence in past lustrum or two. Vulture is a good example of new Thrash Metal that absolutely kills.

Hailing from Germany, Vulture formed only a few years ago in 2016. The demo they released in that first year was well received by fans and since then the band has issued two full-length albums, making Dealin’ Death the third long-player. Set up in the classic style of bass, drums, two guitars, and vocals, the music they create can clock in to legitimate speed freak territory whenever they feel the need.

After a nice short intro that could have been for a demonic toy movie, the thrash kicks up. In some of the songs, a rampaging juggernaut is on display while on others the tempo is not quite so frantic and the composition stretches in other directions. The narrative themes tend toward horror and mythology. When you match these ideas up with fast music the result is high-energy entertainment. Clever twists and turns lead to compositional diversity and add to the experience. This is good, fast metal that makes no massive demands of you and gives you what you want to hear.

Dealin’ Death is out this week on Metal Blade Records. Recommended.

Links.

Vulture Kills store, https://vulturekills.bigcartel.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/vulturekills

Metal Blade Records, https://www.metalblade.com/vulture/

Bandcamp, https://vulturekills.bandcamp.com/album/dealin-death

Vulture, Dealin’ Death (Metal Blade Records 2021)

Exarsis, Sentenced To Life (MDD Records 2020)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , ,

With their fifth album Sentenced To Life, Exarsis fulfills your need, your need for speed.

Greek band Exarsis has been flying the flag for Thrash and Speed Metal for ten years. Under Destruction was their first long-player in 2011, and since then they have been they have been lashing the shores with a new guitar tsunami every couple of years. The band is now Nick Tragakis (vocals), Chris Poulos (bass), Chris Tsitsis (guitars), and Panos Meletis (drums)

Sentenced To Life is perhaps a little more approachable to crossover fans than some of their earlier music with more emphasis on melody, but the speed is still there and it rolls you right over. They play an old school brand of Thrash, touched by the nearly forgotten style of Speed Metal. The result is a credible case for whiplash.

First up on the record is “Cen$ored,” an intro bit that starts with a crackling voiceover that is increasingly heavily bleeped and distorted on the way to the first wailing high-octane song, “Another Betrayal.” Tragakis gives us high register vocals matching up with the stunning speed of the guitar riffs and lead blasts that are so wilting your ears are a little behind on getting all the notes in.

The percussion is at pace as well, pummeling like a cavalry at full charge. You can really hear the intense drumming on songs like “The Truth Is No Defense” where it seems to defy physics. Every song has outstanding attributes and they all call out to be heard again. The ones I hit more than a couple times were “Mouthtied” for the amazing passage in the middle of the song and “Interplanetary Extermination” for its sheer blaze. Fantastic. Recommended.

Sentenced To Life could be flowing into your brain right now. It is available to buy from MDD Records through Bandcamp and you can listen on the usual variety of streaming services.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://exarsis.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/exarsis

MDD Records, https://mdd-records.de/

Exarsis, Sentenced To Life (MDD Records 2020)