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Destruction – Born To Thrash (Live)
I hardly expected this to suck, frankly, but I didn’t expect it to blow me away or completely rewrite the live album script, and it did both. I also didn’t expect that it would sound in most places better than some of Destruction’s finest studio moments, or add so much to their pre-existing thrash standards. This isn’t just a definitive live record, it’s a definitive Destruction record and a definitive thrash record to boot.
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Carthagods – The Monster In Me
OK, I might be cheating given that this is actually the worldwide re-release of an album that only received limited release back in April 2019. But The Monster in Me is so bloody good that we can turn a blind eye! Tunisia’s Carthagods play a dark, epic blend of progressive/power metal in the tradition of bands like Iced Earth, Kamelot and Evergrey. Spearheaded by an incredible performance by singer Mahdi Khema (think about a cross between Jørn Lande and Evergrey’s Tom S Englund), the album also features guest appearances by an impressive list of names from the international metal scene, including Mikael Stanne (Dark Tranquillity), Mark Jansen (Epica, Mayan) and Timo Somers (Delain). Although the 8 songs on The Monster in Me may not chart much new ground in the prog/power metal territory, their quality is so high that it makes it one of the best albums that the genre has produced in recent years.
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Haken – Virus
Haken’s Virus, the second part of their double album concept, refines the use of the same musical elements seen on Vector. The album displays more balanced rhythmic structures, clear melody and atmosphere as well as increased unpredictability. Being undoubtedly their heaviest, most technical and complex album to date, it won’t be an easy pill to swallow for everyone. But from the maelstrom of instrumental wizardry, a superb concept emerges. Many lyrical and instrumental reprises from previous albums in the band’s discography make Virus a playground for dedicated fans to explore and debate on the meaning and flow of the story as well as the connection to the band’s previous work. But even if nerding out over concept albums isn’t your thing, the compositional mastery of Virus reigns supreme in the progressive metal world.
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Bulletbelt – Warlords
Imagine taking black metal with very screechy vocals that it’s hard to understand the words. Leave the vocals unchanged, but give the music a modern production, many thrash riffs, a lot of melody and… some sweetness. Add to it uncommon guitar work and many impressive solos and you’ll almost have it. Also, don’t forget about a colorful album cover with very saturated colors. If you are familiar with Skeletonwitch or Witchery (Skeletonwitchery?) you for sure know what I mean. And that’s how Bulletbelt is. Warlords is an album that combines black metal bitterness with thrash salinity and heavy metal sweetness and it works perfectly well. It’s as far from typical black thrash album as it gets and it impresses the listener all the time with creatively written and played guitar and bass riffs, drum work and very deep vocals. If you are a fan of un-obvious taste combinations and like your metal savage and heavy but also melodic, you need to check this great record out.
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Poltergeist – Feather Of Truth
After an ‘80s stint of thrashing that ended in 1994, Swiss metallers Poltergeist regrouped in 2013 and have now released their second post-reformation album. Heavier than its title suggests, Feather of Truth approaches modern thrash from a bulldozing mid-paced perspective. Songwriting chops run high too, making sure each cut sticks in the head as much as it gouges at the eyes. Very solid no-nonsense thrash.
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Septicflesh – Infernus Sinfonica MMXIX
Since live shows are no longer a thing, let’s hearken back to olden golden days when you could see your heroes on stage. With Infernus Sinfonica MMXIX you can step right into the live atmosphere of Septicflesh. The Greeks are veterans of impressive live sets, and their performance at The Metropolitan Theatre in Mexico City is nothing short of epic. Accompanied by a full live orchestra and two choirs, songs from the last 4 albums of the death metallers’ titanic discography are augmented in size and power for a delivery worthy of Latin American crowds. Excellent production also offers quality audio for the army of musicians to be heard effortlessly. Dare to step into the inferno and wreak havoc with the Gods!
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Sepulchral Curse – Only Ashes Remain
Sepulchral Curse’s debut album, Only Ashes Remain, is a loving homage to classic Finndeath. It oozes morbid atmosphere, with riffs that combine the best of death and doom with the occasional blackened edge. Kari Kankaanpää (Solothus) also turns in a monstrous performance, but its really the massive riffing of Only Ashes Remain that make it such a special album. Highly recommended for fans of Lantern, Demigod, and Solothus.
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Imperial Triumphant – Alphaville
With Vile Luxury, Imperial Triumphant managed to capture the horrific essence of metropolitan aesthetics wedded to the movement of art deco through screeching , swirling guitars, roaring bass and frenetic drumming. Two years later and Alphaville has become what Vile Luxury aspired to be initially but with many twists interwoven in its fabric. There is a whole lot more of experimentation, left turns and oddities to be found here, the art deco style of New York gives way to a global scale examination of the promising early 20th century and how it all crumbled down, the guitars and bass have way more room to breathe while the drums remain sturdy and robust through the album’s runtime (not to mention the impressive list of guests to be found here). An all around improvement on every level, Alphaville is exactly the album that Imperial Triumphant needed to release.
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Judicator – Let There Be Nothing
One can always rely on good old Judy to deliver the goods. Not in an AC/DC ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ kinda way. The American power metallers are constantly, and reliably, expanding and retracting their sound ensuring nothing becomes stagnant, whilst remaining loyal to their Blind Guardian-meets-Iron Maiden approach to the genre. Let There Be Nothing delves deeper into history with its incredibly interesting narrative involving the relationships and affairs of a general in the Byzantine empire. Large, expansive song structures, amazing storytelling characteristics, and most importantly: riffs and solos, are among Judicator’s best here. It might not strike with as much immediacy as 2018’s The Last Emperor, but with soaring anthems like “Gloria” and rhapsodic journeys like “Strange To The World”, a more story-based proggy-tinged power metal record you will not hear in 2020.
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Skeleton – Skeleton
Skeleton’s full-length debut from earlier this month is a callback to Bathory, Hellhammer and other innovators who just wanted to make intense music and didn’t care how it was classified. As this album bludgeons you, its simplistic but satisfying riffs weave a sound that veers close to thrash, death, and early black metal, without stepping all that far away from the band’s punk influence, and even works in some trad metal flavouring from time to time. Skeleton is a fast, dark, and smoky slab of metal that gets about as close to replicating that genre-straddling/pioneering sonic violence of the first wave of black metal as a modern band can while also throwing in a rollicking sense of progression amid the simplicity and enough heady melodies to prevent it from being a hollow imitation.
