Genre: Thrash Metal

SIDE A: Sacrificial Blood - Revenge
01 Revenge
02 Mutilated (Massacre Cover)

SIDE B: Trasher – Radioactive Squid
03 Army of Darkness
04 Radioactive Squid

As a huge Kreator and Bolt Thrower fan, thrash metal has always been my first love. Growing up around bands like Journey and Led Zepplin, I always managed to find a way to sneak thrash cassettes home from my uncle’s house, getting caught thrashing about my room occasionally and getting punished as that music wasn’t welcome in our home. I was unfortunately raised under a very conservative christian roof, but I found my way. It’s with that said that there has always been a very deep appreciation for thrash metal here, even after getting headlong into black metal. The ’party or fuck off’ attitude was always something more rewarding than any subject in black metal, even the political bands really helped form who I am today. So with a release like this coming in from two up and coming American new thrash acts, I have to admit I peed a little. Just a little.

Everything about this release screams old school. Most thrashers will have a huge collection of tapes and 7 inches from their days and this fits in with that idea perfectly. Stickers for each band, the style of the logos, the album artwork; It’s all perfect. The only thing that this release is missing is a patch! Beggers can’t be choosers though, as all of us seem to be begging for real thrash to come back around. With the recent re-emergence of bands like Destruction and Overkill making a rather successful killing off the metal underground, its no wonder more acts are popping up all around the country with talent further than anyone would generally have in their age range. These two bands aren’t old men by any means. This is fresh blood for the scene, whom have somehow managed to avoid the metalcore trendfuck and have carried the thrash torch with them in this path.

Kicking it off is an old school death / old school thrash hybrid of sorts from Long Branch, New Jersey. Judging from the videos of them found around the ’net, they’re definitely one of those acts you have to see live to really fully grasp the music. The same can be said for most good thrash metal though, including the band on the reverse side of this split. The rhythms aren’t chunky at all, but rather they gain their strength from uptempo punk beats and your generic thrash sound (granted that’s said in the best way possible.) These two tracks alone are definitely a reason to purchase this 7", and the Massacre cover has to make even ol’ Rick Rozz grin.

Trasher really took the cake on this one though. I didn’t know what to expect based off the cartoony squid on their side of the cover, but these guys can fucking play! They’ve got a fairly unique sound too because the bass in the mix really comes out over the guitar where its generally lost in the mix with most other bands. The rhythm riffs here are fucking sweet though, taking on a slighter more complex style than other thrash guitarists where the emphasis is generally on straight riffs, complex solos. There’s the beauty though, because guitarist Ethan Ballick kicks it up a notch with his solos. And the fact that the bassist can keep up without just following roots is amazing given the amount of shitty thrash bassists there are out there. Drummer John Norcross kicks it up a notch as well with his added amphasis on the rhythmic sections.

Basically, if you’re a thrasher or have love for old school death and you don’t support these bands and buy this one, you don’t deserve to be listening to metal. You can catch Trasher on tour this summer. They’re touring the US pretty extensively all the way through the end of May into mid-august, so get out there and support!