Lost World Order - "Parasites" Review

This German thrash/death metal band hit the scene in 200 and shot out their first album later that year. Parasites is their third album and the latest to hit the metal scene.
This mix of thrash and death bring new life to the German and European metal scene. Hard punching guitars and continual drums back a talented vocalist with the ability to work from hard and husky, to deep and then back up the scale again, one kill not often seen in vocalists of thrash/death nowadays.

Unlike a lot of thrash, these boys know how to take the sound and make it new without repetition taking over. The riffs are fresh and clean, as is the ever present drum/bass rhythm section, which brings all the elements together as the vocals burst onto the scene. As well as skilled musicians, this album shows them as skilful composers, able to turn their hand to anything innovative and special. 

The anthemic quality of the hooks and chorus of many of their songs adds to their calibre not only as thrash metallers, but also heavy metallers. They’ve taken advantage of Germany’s rich metal roots and taken their work to the next level – wowing fans new and old. Strangely, some of their songs also have a Mercyful Fate quality to them, with the storyline within each other instead of the whole album, which again is innovative and special.

Review from brutalism.com

Mpire Of Evil - "Hell To The Holy" Review

After stumbling out of the gate a bit with "Creatures Of The Black"an ill-advised EP of covers and a couple original tunes, Mpire Of Evil finds its footing on the band's full-length debut, "Hell To The Holy." With three ex-members of Venom making up Mpire Of Evil, it's not surprising that these songs have the dawn-of-thrash sound that Venom and Motorhead pioneered back in the day.
For the uninitiated, Mpire Of Evil is made up of guitarist Jeff "Mantas" Dunn, Tony "Demolition Man" Dolan on bass and vocals and Antony "Antton" Lant on drums. It's somewhat easy — and, for that matter, reflexive — to say that this stuff doesn't measure up to Venom classics like "Prime Evil" and "Black Metal," but it's got plenty to offer on its own merits.
The opener, "Hellspawn" and especially the follow-up track "Metal Messiah" get the classic thrash vibe going, with the former having a definite Motorhead feel, while the latter blends in some of the technicality of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal circa 1981 or so.
That era is recalled affectionately (if somewhat clumsily, lyrically) in "Snake Pit," which recalls "one hot night in '85" and name-checks Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and the Scorpions, making reference to "aces" and "bullet belts" worn by another classic metal icon. The track features Mantas' best ax-work on the album, with some face-meltingly awesome solos.
Those looking for a brief break from the fury will enjoy the bottleneck blues that opens "Devil," a familiar tale of a musician looking to trade his soul to Satan for some tasty licks. It's the album's grooviest track, with plenty of hip-shakin' to go with the head-bangin'.
Much of the credit for that — and, for that matter, how well the rest of the album goes down — has to go to Antton, who expertly straddles the divide between the double-bass bashing of thrash and the more groovy approach that tracks like "Devil and "Waking Up Dead" require.
Sure, the album has its share of filler tracks — "All Hail" and the pretty generic title tune in particular — but nothing falls short of being listenable. The biggest complaint to be had musically speaking is that Demolition Man's bass work is fairly inconsistent. On the faster tunes, he's got the Lemmy Kilmister vibe down pat, but on some of the the slower tracks — particularly "Hell To The Holy" — his playing feels a bit muddled.
As befitting its membership, Mpire Of Evil's "Hell To The Holy" raises plenty of Venom-style hell. Fans of the way metal sounded as the '70s turned into the '80s are going to find plenty to love here.

Highs: "Hellspawn," "Devil" and "Snake Pit."

Lows: "Hell To The Holy" and "All Hail."

Bottom line: A Venom-style thrasher that will please fans of that band plenty.

http://soundcloud.com/scarlet-records/mpire-of-evil-hellspawn 

The Kandidate - "Facing The Imminent Prospect Of Death" Review

This is a mean, unforgiving arsenal of thrashy death-tinged songs that pulverizes you not with a constant high-speed frontal charge – given the wrong mood, those albums put me to sleep now and again – but through the raw, genuine rage embedded in the very essence of the playing. No posturing, satanic black metal wannabes can hope to terrify on this level when frontman Jacob Bredahl (ex-Hatesphere) bellows, “Memories lost, memories gone, DEAD! FUCKING DEAD!” over the grooving crunch of “Let The Maggots Have It.”
For a band rooted in such aggression, it’s refreshing to discover that no two tracks sound quite alike. In a shift from the comparatively straightforward offerings on the 2010 debut “Until We Are Outnumbered,” this album is soaked in hardcore’s confrontational snarl (“Modvind,” “The Knives Spit”) and punk’s directness (“Fucked In The Search For Life,” “Dommedag”). “Standing On The Cliffs Of Madness” is the standout thrasher, while “One And Alone,” “Total War,” and “Disillusionized” increase the considerable groove factor. Tempos rise, fall, and otherwise shift unpredictably with a journeying complexity that somehow never feels blatant or disjointed. Guitarist Tvedebrink is largely responsible for this; his avalanche of inventive riffs slides right past the edge of wankery with feet to spare, and winds up riveting you as the rhythm section blows out your car windows.
Produced neither too much nor too little, “Facing The Imminent Prospect Of Death” sounds exactly as its makers believe it should: like four expert musicians playing a tight, precise live show, where the digitized soullessness of excessive effects and overdubs is off the table. Essential for fans of Hatesphere (and of primary influence Entombed), The Kandidate is teaching a valuable lesson in how angry music should be played – and remembered.

Highs: "Let The Maggots Have It," "Standing On The Cliffs Of Madness"

Lows: Pure death/thrash fans may not appreciate the prevalent punk and hardcore tendencies, and if you can't handle being yelled at, forget it.

Bottom line: Thrash, death, groove, hardcore, and punk converge in Denmark for one hell of a collision, leaving no survivors.

Savage Messiah - Plague Of Conscience Review

In a world where thrash metal seems to be steadily leaning more and more to the harsher side of things (Warbringer, Toxic Holocaust, Skeletonwitch, etc) it's pretty nice to hear a more melodic step-back. Granted, this isn't an extremely vicious album, but who cares? It seems it's becoming just too easy to write steam-rolling thrash. Some times, it's just nice to hear thrash that can just...soar.

Don't let that fool you though, thrash is thrash. It's made for top-speed aggression. Sure, Plague Of Conscience isn't teeth-shattering aggression, but more of that epic lead-based thrash. It flies like power metal, but generally drives forward with a little more kick. The best way to picture it is some US power/traditional heavy metal hybrid with a thrash metal engine. It's got its fair amount of revivalist touches, but Savage Messiah manage to deliver it in a youthful enough way to not sound completely flavourless.

There's leads, then there's riffs. Plague Of Conscience is an album of leads, and that's where it falls a little flat. There's such a total focus on creating that top-speed, high-flying sound, that they come up short when it comes to delivering the basics; riffs to bang your head to. Here's the part where they should have taken some tips from their harsher contemporaries; this album seems like a lot of flash, and no crunch, far too often. Where there feels like there should be some great riffs layin' down the lead, there seems to be a big hole that was filled with some generic thrash rhythm section.

Overall, Plague Of Conscience is not a bad album. If anything, the band should be commended for focusing on their strongest aspect; awesome guitar leads. It just would have been nice to see them fill those in-between moments with something a little more engaging.