This may be the first time I’ve ever based a good review
on a band name, the names of the band members themselves,
the album and the song titles.
Oh, the music is good. It is solid thrash metal played exactly
the way you want it played. Blood Tsunami is loud, fast and
aggressive, and it’s nice to see their commitment to
old school thrash styles. There are echoes of Slayer, Megadeth,
and Kill ‘Em All-era Metallica. Blood Tsunami
plays a sort of hybrid of those styles. There are fast tempos
like Slayer, but there are also some intricate song structures
here. Blood Tsunami reveals that while they can certainly
rock out with the best of them, they’re no one trick
pony, (see the seven-minute instrumental “Godbeater”).
While Thrash Metal has a good deal of the elements
of old school thrash, the album does a good job of incorporating
them, instead of merely recycling them. Vocalist Pete Evil
has a voice suited to this kind of music, it’s a high,
raspy thing that sounds like it comes out of the flames of
hell.
With that said, I must say that the name Blood Tsunami? Very
nice. Calling the album by the exact genre in which you play?
Even better. Songs with titles like “Rampage of Revenge,”
“Infernal Final Carnage,” “Devoured by Flames,”
“Godbeater” and “Killing Spree”? Awesome.
And with band members named Pete Evil (guitar and vocals),
Dor (guitar), Bosse (bass/backing vocals) and Faust (drums),
they sound like the droogs from A Clockwork Orange.
All told, Thrash Metal is a tight, rock solid debut.
This is the kind of album that might be best experienced one
of two ways: live or in your car on a long trip. Finally,
it’s nice to see a band from Norway that doesn’t
wear pancake makeup or play doom metal. High five. |
