Weekend Breakdown with Teratornis and Iron Force

A big thanks to Social Bomb's own Kenneth Huerta for pointing me toward Australian thrashers TERATORNIS.

Let me start off by saying these guys pummel out some straight-up kick-ass thrash metal. When I first heard their music, I marveled at how well the riffs stuck with me as I slammed through each track, breaking my neck the whole way through.

Guitarists James Lewis and TT Nugent work with a ferociously tight style, offering up fiendish gallops and brain-bashing e-string chugs. Sure, lots of guys can gallop and chug-chug-chug, but the Teratornis fellas craft some very creative, catchy, and thoroughly bad-ass riffs without getting all math-tech in their approach.

I really dig the tunes I've heard so far, the highlights being Notomelus and the band-titled track Teratornis (which, to these ears, sounds as if Evile and Gama Bomb had a baby…freakin' KILLER).

Teratornis boasts some skillful thrash-writing abilities and I urge you to give 'em a shot. These guys need to be discovered! Check out the tunes below and then hit them up on Facebook.

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Thrashing from Guadalajara, Mexico, we have the mighty IRON FORCE. Their only available song Artillery is a pissed-off and in-your-face hammering of intense death/thrash metal, and it literally FORCED me to sit and write…something about it, dammit!

With a few clever curves, blasting riffage, and locomotive drums, this tune is a display of forceful and rigorous attitude. Vocalist Erick Beltran's sound brings to mind a more thrashy Karl Wiletts (of Bolt Thrower).

It's a bit difficult to comment on the band based on one song, but Artillery has definitely made me want to hear what else Iron Force has to offer. What do you think? Give it a listen below, and if you think it's as bad-ass as I, go tell 'em on their Facebook page.

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Merry Lichmas! New Lich King song and TOUR!

Some really cool news coming from the mighty LICH KING.

As many of you know, the band's LICHMAS tradition continued in its normal kick-ass way to celebrate the season. Lich King released a new song titled Crossover Songs Are Too Damn Short and made it available as a FREE freakin' download.

As expected, the song rocks and easily stands up with the Born of the Bomb material (even if it is Too Damn Short). Way cool of these guys to do something like this. Yeah, they claim to hate their fans (Fan Massacre!), but we know they truly love us…most of us.

Check it out:



On another point, although the following wasn't officially part of the Lichmas present, I still consider it just as special a gift: the LICH KING TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT! Some shows will also include Possessor, Insinnerator, and Smash Potater! Check out the graphic below.

That's right. A Kansas City date. Finally! So, all you U.S. residents comb through the dates and see if there is a show coming close to you, because I believe THIS will be worth the trip.

MERRY LICHMAS!!

Have a thrashy Christmas with a FREE album download from Mastery!

Ontario metal men MASTERY are offering up a kick-ass Christmas present for fans of tight, technical, blistering thrash metal!

Their new album "In the Key of Kill", featuring the legendary Billy Milano on vocals, is now available on the band's Bandcamp page as a FREE download!

Mighty neighborly of these guys to do this because In the Key of Kill is a killer wall of sound of neck-breaking riffs, precise rhythms, and shredding guitars. The work these musicians accomplish together is at times awe-inspiring.

Leading the vocal charge, Milano belts out his part in a delivery that edges into death metal territory.

Highlights on this album? There are many, but I really dig The High and Mighty and We Slaughter the Shepherds as there is a bit of a Testament quality to them that I find more than appealing.

Check out the album below, download it here, and go thank them on their Facebook page.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  \m/

Review: Insinnerator - Hypothermia

My history with  INSINNERATOR, has been well documented on this blog. Long story short, with their first album Stalagmite of Ice, Insinnerator turned this critic into a big fan, stopping me from being such a puss as I embraced the Texas band as the bad-ass thrash metal machine that they are - warts and all.

Did I have a few problems with 'em? Sure, but the music overshadowed any misgivings I may have had at the time.

Now with the release of Insinnerator's new EP Hypothermia, the guys obviously did their homework on their most commonly received criticisms (vocals, production), worked on them, and created a new batch of songs that vanquish any doubts of improvement.

With Hypothermia, we find a meaner, tighter and stronger Insinnerator who took their competence in song-writing and added a ravenous bit of confidence to the mix. Gone are the occasional jagged pieces of awkward vocal timing, replaced now with a rejuvenated style of intensity. It's pure freakin' THRASH, with the crazed-yet-controlled chaos to rival early Kreator and Vio-lence. Not that Insinnerator necessarily sounds like those bands, but it's the essence of the adrenaline-pumping, wild abandon which they capture so well - as if the speed and insanity is juuuuust about to go off track, but is pulled back in to devastatingly kick-ass results.

A perfect example is the opening track Burned Alive, where bassist/vocalist "Brutal" Ben mixes a killer machine-gun delivery with the added gang shouts, weaving a commanding performance through the song's hellaciously fast riffage and explosive drumming.

Well-played dynamics offer up tasty slices of icy atmosphere, such as in the epic Elemental Ice Dragon and the sinister (although ultimately, unnecessary) instrumental Hypothermia.

Kudos must be given to guitarist/vocalist Christopher "Atomic Thrasher" and drummer Juan "Speed" who work so well together, maintaining a distinct sound that can be heard over both of Insinnerator's releases. Such is a positive for a thrash band to harness a unique sound all their own.

Needless to say, I find Hypothermia a killer EP all the way through. If Insinnerator ramped up the bad-assery this much from their first release, I can't wait to experience where they'll take it from here.


Interested? Of course you are! Visit their Facebook page here.

Electric Vengeance: Street Metal Attack

I've been following Electric Vengeance for a while now, enjoying their turn at churning out raw punk/thrash with humorous overtones. Those antics continue with their new EP titled Street Metal Attack.

Whether it was intended or not, the opening track Keep it Electric is a bonafide punk-feuled homage to Metallica's Kill 'Em All, complete with classic chugging riffs and Phantom Lord-ish, reverbed-out vocal attack.

Catchy and dynamic, Keep it Electric is key, along with a few choice elements found in the following three tracks, to draw more eyes toward Electric Vengeance.

In fact, the opening song almost killed the rest of the EP for me. Not that the other songs are bad, but initially the other three tracks didn't hold up to the tone set by Keep it Electric. HOWEVER…

…upon further listening, the others definitely grew on me, including the title track Street Metal Attack, highlighting an east coast flavor with a heavy dose of pure heavy metal in the solo section.

Regarding the aforementioned "choice elements", Electric Vengeance's use of traditional heavy/power metal with their punk-laden thrash gives them a killer edge over other dime-a-dozen crossover bands. Both songs Mosh With the Dead and Ouija at Witching Hour utilize this mix of styles well, never sounding forced and always knocking the song dynamics up a few notches. I love it!


Interested thrashers can hit Electric Vengeance up here.

Weekend Breakdown of FREE music with Vital Gore and Hollow Truth!

For fans of pure, drunken, dirty, and mean as sh*t thrash metal, look no further than the Texas monsters known as VITAL GORE.

Contrary to what the name suggests, Vital Gore are not death metal, although you could add hints of early death into their influences as well as various sounds from the punk/crossover and Slayer camps. Vital Gore hammers it all together well, in a mass of aggressively raw metal.

Songs such as The Locust, Beerinator, and Womb are searing pieces of pissed-off thrash. To find the more swaggering Slayer influences, check out the kick-ass insanity of Wait For Death.

Maybe you've heard all this stuff before, but when it's done with an obvious hunger and topped with killer riffs, their tunes become a killer fist-pumping time killer.

With each additional listen to their demo (appropriately titled "Demo") I become a bigger and bigger fan of Vital Gore. You can, too, because these Texas madmen are offering up Demo as a free download! Listen to it below and then snake it here. Hey, Vital Gore has a Facebook page!







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Ireland's crossover metallers HOLLOW TRUTH lean way more on the hardcore side, but there is plenty of thrash influence injected into the music as well.

Yes, many grooves and breakdowns are to be found throughout, but a big bonus that separates Hollow Truth from other Hatebreed clones is the Mike Muir-esque vocals used instead of the typical gruff quasi-death barkings normally iced over these types of tunes.

While they are not reinventing much, nor do they need to, but Hollow Truth does indeed include some ear-catching arrangements, particularly in the song Terrible Winds. Personally, I'd like to hear these guys go balls-out fast on a few tracks to keep the dynamics flowing from song to song, but that is only a minor beef.

If your down for some face-stomping heaviness, check out the goods below and then download them here for FREE! Afterward, go pay Hollow Truth a visit here.

Slip Into Coma ROCKS!

More and more kick ass thrash keeps working itself out of the woodwork. In the case of California's SLIP INTO COMA, they've been chopping at that woodwork for nearly 23 years.

Formed in 1990, the band went through a few line-up changes before finally downsizing to a three-piece. Now, Slip Into Coma sound just as vicious and hungry as any upstart thrash band. Their new demo tracks pack a ferocious bite of of old-school east coast thrash with doses of crossover, German influences, and Slayerisms, all comparable to a welcome kick to the face.

Guitarist Scott Kazos absolutely shreds with hard-hitting riffs and killer solos while bassist Greg Sherman and drummer Tyler Gottlob provide a tight rhythm full of pure thrashin' muscle.

Check out Slip Into Coma's tunes below. They are demo tracks for their upcoming album, and are available as a FREE freakin' download! Get 'em here!

Killer THRASH!

Banished Force offers up their final album for free

This past summer I posted about Germany's BANISHED FORCE and was freaking out about the band's ability to deliver some to-the-point killer thrash metal.

At the time, they were still working on their new release titled Greed, an album I was eagerly awaiting.

Well, it looks like we have to take some bad news to go with the good news.

The good news: Greed is out. In fact, you can hear the entire album below via YouTube, gracefully uploaded with the band's blessing.

The bad news: Greed is Banished Force's second and final album. Apparently they disbanded, claiming that Greed will never be released on CD. The band posted on their Facebook page, "thanks for your support over the years and the great time we had together."

Bummer. I hate seeing bands break up.

However, Banished Force is leaving us with a parting gift: They are allowing the public to download Greed for FREE. Not so Greedy after all, eh?

So check out the album below, and then click HERE or HERE to download the album (booklet included).

Afterward, visit them on Facebook and give them a "thanks" and a "goodbye".

Parting is such sweet sorrow (although the free album takes the sting out a bit!).

Solanum ROCKS!

I just came across these dudes and had to throw together a quick post to give California's SOLANUM a big, fat thumbs up! Or horns up.

Here we have killer German and Bay Area influences mashed together for an all-out thrash onslaught that should be written out in book form and studied on ways to sonically kick someone's ass.

Solanum offer up the frenzied assault of our classic Teutonic faves while incorporating the juicy mid-sections of Bay Area-style aggressive riffage and melodic solos.

As of this writing, Solanum only have five demo-quality songs available. If one can hear the bad-assery of their songs through these recordings, I can't imagine how epic their music will sound through the dials of a pro recording. I hope it happens soon!

Meanwhile, check out what they have to offer below and then bump up their "Likes" on Facebook and Reverbnation.