The thrash resurgence sees bands such as California's Merciless Death enlisting the artful talents of Ed Repka. The negative aspect to this frothing scene is the rather formulaic feel to it all, band after band taking that retro approach and giving not an ounce of freshness to a scene which, in the '80s, was extremely potent. Whilst it's wonderful to see thrash back in a big way none of the bands are fit to lace the boots of the bands they cite as influences. Merciless Death have released a fairly standard record that zips by at quite a pace yet with no real effect. 'Exumer', 'Command Death', Ready To Kill', all reek of Slayer, but never once come close to lightning the candle of the thrash titans. Torres' vocals are reasonably aggressive, but the riffs which litter each track don't exactly jump out, making this short platter seem like one long track. Back in the day there were so many different bands to experience, whether it was the Bay Area thrashers with their quality crunch, or the alien environment of say Voivod or Coroner, and then there were the UK bands, with Sabbat at the helm, and of course seminal acts from Kreator and Sodom, to Anthrax and Death Angel. Thrash is healthy today, but bands such as Merciless Death can barely even hint at those magical times. For me, this nod to the '80s is interesting but there is a possibility that fans could become swamped in very average thrash metal.Wednesday 27 July 2011
Merciless Death - Evil In The Night (2006)
The thrash resurgence sees bands such as California's Merciless Death enlisting the artful talents of Ed Repka. The negative aspect to this frothing scene is the rather formulaic feel to it all, band after band taking that retro approach and giving not an ounce of freshness to a scene which, in the '80s, was extremely potent. Whilst it's wonderful to see thrash back in a big way none of the bands are fit to lace the boots of the bands they cite as influences. Merciless Death have released a fairly standard record that zips by at quite a pace yet with no real effect. 'Exumer', 'Command Death', Ready To Kill', all reek of Slayer, but never once come close to lightning the candle of the thrash titans. Torres' vocals are reasonably aggressive, but the riffs which litter each track don't exactly jump out, making this short platter seem like one long track. Back in the day there were so many different bands to experience, whether it was the Bay Area thrashers with their quality crunch, or the alien environment of say Voivod or Coroner, and then there were the UK bands, with Sabbat at the helm, and of course seminal acts from Kreator and Sodom, to Anthrax and Death Angel. Thrash is healthy today, but bands such as Merciless Death can barely even hint at those magical times. For me, this nod to the '80s is interesting but there is a possibility that fans could become swamped in very average thrash metal.
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