Sweden's hardcore thrashers LOWEST CREATURE! Yeah, they kick ass!

I love finding bands like Sweden’s own LOWEST CREATURE - chugging thrash with a nice crossover bent.

Admittedly, I’ve only heard the one available song “Certain Pain”, but if the rest of the band’s debut demo is as strong as this track, those tunes will earn a nice spot in my regular music listening rotation.

As for the lone track, it rides on the strength of a stomping mid-paced riff that would bust the rust off any deadened mosh pit. The vocals are wrought with punk angst, driving alongside the head slamming rhythm. It’s in your face and it kicks ass!

Check out Certain Pain below (which is also available as a FREE download), and hit up Lowest Creature here.

Tacit Fury ROCKS!

I was going to add a small Facebook post about Russia’s death metal machine TACIT FURY, but as I jammed out to their recent album “A Social Berserker”, I came to the conclusion that a couple meager sentences wouldn’t do these guys justice.

So once again I’ve dusted off the Blog to make some verbal noise for a band that needs to be heard past the limitations of a ‘non-boosted’ Facebook post.

First and foremost, Tacit Fury knows dynamics, and the three-piece will work the riffs and drums together for maximum neck-injury impact. They utilize frenzied rhythms, mid-paced head-chuggers, and the occasional blast beat to offer variety to the listener.  Songs such as Release the Lions, Chronology Bleached, and Overblade work these song-writing tools to build a catastrophic catalog of face-pummeling perfection.

Those of you not keen on the death metal style of vocals should still give Tacit Fury a try. Although the music is good enough to overshadow some peoples’ taste in the vocals, I couldn’t imagine these tunes fronted with any other type of delivery. Although many death metal vocalists can sound similar, there are indeed both “good” and “terrible” death metal vocalists, and Fury’s frontman Enoth is damn good at what he does.

Check out the tunes below, and if you dig ‘em as much as I think you will, the $3 asking price for a 12-track album is a damn good deal. As a side note, they have made their "Horrors From Depth" release available as a FREE download here.

Hit them up on Facebook here.

Getting high on the face-breaking punk/thrash of HI-GH!

As a fan of the raw punk and thrash attack of Itaily’s VIOLENTOR, it’s no wonder why I instantly fell for the rumble and roll of HI-GH.

Yeah, these guys harness enough raw power to kill an elephant, grinding away at teeth-shattering punk and speed metal riffage mixed with head banging rhythms and venomous vocals. At times, with the use of dynamic repetition in their riffs and with vocalist Tommaso Slowly’s in-your-face performance, HI-GH sounds like a speed/thrash-based, less industrial Ministry on steroids (Check out the end to 'HI-GH (Can You Roll It For Me)'). All this is in wonderful contrast to some of HI-GH’s more, shall we say, soulful guitar work, showing a bit of love for their 70s metal influences.

Catchy and pissed, THIS is thrash ’n’ roll at it’s best! Give HI-GH a listen below and then check out their Facebook page here.

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Lenny Troo Frasher: Headbanging

A great time for thrash fans! New stuff from Toxic Holocaust, Warbringer, and more!

The past couple of weeks have been good for thrash fans! We find ourselves swimming in newly released material from Toxic Holocaust, lyric videos from Warbringer and Onslaught, and a full music vid from the mighty Annihilator.

The tune from Toxic Holocaust sounds vicious and hungry, assuring that the new album Chemistry of Consciousness is going to be a monster. 

The same could easily be said about Warbringer's track Hunter Seeker. A hard-hitting thrasher with sweeps of brutally melodic touches. Keep in mind that the new album 'IV: Empires Collapse' includes guitarist Jeff Potts and bassist Ben Mottsman, plucked from the raging bad-ass machine known as Mantic Ritual. This album will crush!

Onslaught's Chaos Is King is truly a wall of sonic violence. An absolute relentless attack of metal. It doesn't get scarier than this.

Annihilator's No Way Out is a rolling thrash tune with elements of hard rock that echo the rockin' stomp of Clutch (and I'm not saying that just because vocalist Dave Padden is sporting the thick Neil Fallon beard). Great tune!

Anyway, enough babbling! Let's scroll down and check out some killer METAL!!

Insanity Alert's new music video!

Austrian thrashers INSANITY ALERT have unleashed their new video for the tune Twist Off Betrayal. Many beer drinkers out there will definitely relate to the song's subject matter. I'm sure that at least once in your life you cried out in a pained voice, "This isn't a twist off?!" - all while nursing a fresh wound earned from a stubborn bottle cap.

So kick back and enjoy the next 60 seconds with Insanity Alert. Afterward, take advantage of the band's generosity and download their most recent EP for FREE here. Also, hit them up on Facebook and tell 'em thanks for the free thrash!

YAAAA!!!!!

Weekend Breakdown featuring Necroriser and Space Chaser

I've been gone a while, and although I am still on my extended break from blogging, I found a little extra time this evening...

...so let me stick my forehead-bruised noggin up from the dark just long enough for it to get kicked clean off my neck by some face-shattering METAL!

First, check out the outright brutal deathrash of the London based band NECRORISER. These guys slam together killer old-school thrash hooks with the browbeating insanity of grave digging death metal. Necroriser headlocks the listener with furiously heavy riffs that march along the fretboard like an army of sledgehammer-wielding zombies. That's right. The combination of headbanging chug and hammering speed make for a blissful savaging of the eardrums.

Check out the band's most recent release "Violent" below and hit the band up here.

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I mentioned SPACE CHASER on my Facebook page a while back, meaning to eventually give the Berlin based band some NWOTM Blog-love in the future.

I love their sound, which seems to have a bit of Gama Bomb worship mixed with the punch of U.S. bi-coastal thrash influences. The riffs are both frantic and catchy, hooking the ear before attacking with a speedy head-battering. Vocalist Siegfried Rudzynski offers a lot of charisma in his delivery, going from clean to rough to high-pitched, all working well alongside the dynamics of the music.

Jam out to the tunes below and if you like 'em, go tell Space Chaser how much they kick ass on their Facebook page. Bands like that, I reckon.

Homicide Hagridden ROCKS!

Thrash, thrash, THRASH! For the past few days, I've been slamming my head to the insanity of Homicide Hagridden, allowing them to bloody my ears with some well-meaning Slayer worship. The Hagridden crew adds a few drops of Teutonic influences to hammer home a thunderous mass of speedy metal, complete with fist-pumping e-string gallops and the occasional face-stomping breakdown.

Damn, these guys seriously kicked my ass hard. Their tune Black As War is as thrash as it gets!

Check out Homicide Hagridden's new album "US" below, buy it here, and then hit these guys up on Facebook.

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Motam Death Squad ROCKS!

Ah, man, I arrived late to the party once again.

Surfing around the mighty YouTube can offer up unexpected results when searching for thrash metal. Whilst mining through mountains of crap, there are nuggets of gold to be found, and found one I surely did! Unfortunately that particular golden nugget had already broken up. Sad.

For those of you not privy to the band, let me introduce the late MOTAM DEATH SQUAD, a crossover band from Italy that gives a fair share of nods to Teutonic thrash as it does S.O.D., Anthrax, Sadus, and even Scatterbrain (to a point).

These guys were in it for the FUN, and although most of us like our thrash fun as well as fast, it would all be for nothing without kick-ass riffs to propel the festivities along. NO WORRIES here, my finicky friends, as their 2011 self-titled album is swirling with face-ripping riffage, backed by head-slamming dynamics and rhythms.

The fact that MDS's album didn't reach beyond the self-released status is a shame. Supposedly, before they broke up they made their self-titled album available as a free download. As of this writing, I cannot find the official download link to this brilliant parting gift from a killer band I never had the pleasure of knowing while they were still kicking. Boo.

Thankfully, we can still jam Motam Death Squad via YouTube. Check out the full album below (note that the music begins around the 1:55 mark), and if your internet searching skills trump mine, please post any found info about MDS in the comments section. (Yes, I found their MySpace page, but, man...if there is any useful info to be found there, I surely could not find it.)

Weekend Breakdown featuring Sagros, Zodiac Ciphers, and Maze of Terror

Bring on SAGROS, a Colombian band intent on dealing out some gut-punching angry METAL. I was turned onto Sagros after hearing their neck-snapping song Anger Blinds The Mind, which immediately tossed me into a brawl of chugging riffage. The tight intensity of the song had me at the get-go, but the riffs turn to a catchy dynamic halfway through that makes me want to start a makeshift moshpit in my living room, the casualties being my turned-over chairs and bruised shins. Totally metal.

These guys have been flying the thrash metal flag for over 15 years and will finally release their debut album through Hateworks sometime this year.

Check out the tune below and then visit them on Facebook here.

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Now I bring you the majestic ZODIAC CIPHERS, a thrash band that drinks from the cup of Slayerisms, filled to the top with a suicide of power thrash and death metal. Vocalist Kjell Andersson mainly refrains from the "Cookie Monster" vokills, opting for the traditional thrash bark/clean singing. The music however rages with a death metal charge, then switches gears to the melodic, and then offers up some Bay Area aggression before heading back into the grave. It's all a killer mix to piece together into some solid metal songs.

Slam to the music streams below and then give them a "Like" here.





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From Peru we have MAZE OF TERROR, a band that unleashes a sick and thunderous thrash pounding with their new EP titled Skull Crusher. This three-piece specialize in metal that rakes the listener across gravel with guttered riffs and fire-spewing vocals. The song Rival is a chugfest of speedy angst while Hatred and Repression is a tune that offers up plenty of deliberate mosh-worthy moments.

Hold your invisible grapefruits high as you check out the tune below and then visit the band here. If you like what you hear, the band has made Skull Crusher available as a FREE download! Grab it here.

I don't know much about them, but HumanHunter ROCKS!

Okay, who the hell is HumanHunter? I thought my online searching skills were at least up to an intermediate level of expertise, but the results I come up with for this metal band are minimal at best. Argh!!!

No matter. I had recently stumbled upon a couple of HumanHunter's songs on YouTube, both which provided a decent ass-kicking, so I'm passing them on to you.

Based on what we have here, HumanHunter leans toward the blackened thrash sound, offering a full-on assault of head banging riffs and rhythms, topped with undead-like vocals…like a specter vomiting sand, which is always cool.

The song Insomnia caught my attention with its driving mid-paced attack, but the pure bad-assery of the tune Angel's Death solidified me as a fan. The latter tune's first minute and a half treats the listener to a crushingly heavy riff stomp while vocalist David Lorente distorts his vocals to a maddening level. It works well, but then the song kicks into gear, hitting us with horns-up thrash and a catchy-as-hell sing-along chorus.

So far there are some classic moments to find on HH's self-titled 2011 release, but I just need to hear the rest!

Check out the tunes below and then shrug as you check out their MySpace page. Here's a bit more info on them. Anyone with additional info, kindly post in the comments section below.

Weekend Breakdown: Besieged and Leech

Brutal, brutal, BRUTAL. Winnipeg's BESIEGED hit that sickening sweet spot of kick-ass death-tinged thrash metal, making me shake my head in ecstatic disbelief. As I listen to their debut album Victims Beyond All Help, I am blown away by the sheer power of each song, belted out with uncompromising ferocity in attitude as well as musical competence.

Battering my ears with unmercifully fast riffs and bloodthirsty vocals, Besieged brilliantly intertwines the old-school deathrash of early-era Sepultura with the frenzied brutality of Demolition Hammer and Guillotine. Offering no time to catch one's breath, the band's debut storms the listener with thrash metal that sounds fresh as it does violently PISSED…you know, as it should be!

Indie label Unspeakable Axe will reissue Victims Beyond All Help on July 9th (it was previously self-released by the band), and if they can afford the band substantial reach within the metal community, I believe we'll see this album on quite a few "Best Of" lists for 2013.

Damn. Good. Metal.

Listen to the tracks below and then hit them up on Facebook.









LEECH, a New York metal band, utilizes many influences to solidify a sound that is absolutely face-melting. And I love to have my face melted!

The blend of east coast thrash and hardcore is brought to life with a strong injection of crushing Swedish death metal (sans the "buzzsaw" sound). Leech's merging of these genres sounds natural and effortless, resulting in a most brutal ass-kicking.

Vocalist Christian Geraldino fits Leech's musical delivery like a glove, offering up a touch of hardcore rhythms and gang shouts to complement his throaty thrash and death metal vocal assault.

Leech provides music to which a metal fan can positively RAGE. Wanna rage? Good! Check out the tunes below, download 'em for FREE, and then visit Leech here.

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Happy Condition Critical Day!

Within an enigmatically reasoned Facebook post, last year I dubbed this day (April 23rd) Condition Critical Day. Why? I don't remember. I must of been sickly excited about something the New Jersey thrash band did, and probably made the holiday declaration as a well-intended joke. Yet that declaration stuck in my head, and here we are a year later.

So, you know…Happy Condition Critical Day!

Now although the NWOTM Blog was hoping the band's new album Operational Hazard would be out right now to help commemorate this special made-up holiday, you can still celebrate by downloading their "Bred to Kill" demo and promo song "Random Acts of Killing" for free from their Facebook page.

While you're there, wish the band a Happy Condition Critical Day as well. I don't think they know anything about this, and it might be fun to confuse the hell out of 'em.

Thrash and be merry!

Video for DEATHRAISER's Terminal Disease

Finally, Brazil's own maniacal thrash band DEATHRAISER has released its very first music video!

The video is for the song Terminal Disease, from the band's 2011 album Violent Aggression (re-released in 2012 via Xtreem Music), and it CRUSHES!

If you haven't slammed to Deathraiser yet, you're missing out. These guys write music akin to driving in railroad spikes with your face. The speed and insanity they inject into their metal is both maddening and perfect.

Check out the vid below (and beware of vocalist Thiago's crazed eyes!!), and then hit them up on either Facebook or MySpace.

Weekend Breakdown with Metreya and Evil Invaders

 I need to thank Cat H. for pointing me toward Australian metallers METREYA. Based on their one available song, I am now waiting impatiently to hear more, more, MOOOAR!!

With their self-titled tune, Metreya invoke the stomp of Anthrax with killer doses of Slayerisms and Testament. One can even hear slight touches of power thrash sewn into the audible fabric. I dug everything I heard, but it was the songs mid-section of stellar fast riff gallops and moshable rhythms that brought it all together.

A nice piece of ear-damaging brutality, one which I hope will be followed by equally kick-ass mass of bludgeoning thrash metal.

Check out the tune below and then hit Metreya up here.

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Thanks again to Luuk Hoogland, who originally brought my attention to bands such as Brazil's Maniac Force, among others, has brought yet another gem to light.

Here we have the speed metal mania of EVIL INVADERS. These Belgium metal men excel in unreal riffage of insane acceleration, and foundation-shaking solos to give the droopy-eyed jaded metal fan a kick in the ass.

Vocalist Jöe Anus eats lightning and jets out sonic weapons of pure, thunderous METAL. My God, this stuff kicks ass!

Check out the tune Driving Fast below and then keep tabs on Evil Invaders here for updates on their new EP.

METAL!!!

Sonic Pulse and Six In Line to tour the east coast

Hey, as a resident in a far-away state, I can't go to any of the upcoming Sonic Pulse / Six In Line shows, but some of you on the U.S. east coast CAN.

So just to live vicariously through SOMEbody who will eventually post a bragging write-up on my Facebook page, I'm going to post some of the bands' songs as well as the tour dates in hopes that those of you who can attend will do so in the most thrashing manner possible.

Why would it rule if this tour comes through your city? Well, it's Sonic Pulse's first solo trek in support of their Lager Than Life album (not counting the string of shows with Lich King). Also, Six In Line is coming in all the way from Sweden for their first U.S. tour.

Oh, yeah, and both bands kick ass. I know they do because I said so here and here.

Needless to say, I'm excited for 'em all and I hope the tour goes well.

Check out the tunes below and then scroll down for tour dates to see if they are hitting your area.

The NWOTM Blog's Top 10 Albums of 2012

I have finally pieced together the New Wave of Thrash Metal Blog's Top Ten Albums of 2012.

Creating lists based on music favorites is always a difficult task for me because the list changes almost daily. Plus, I don't have the funds to get EVERY single thrash release, so really an "official best-of list" would be rather bogus coming from me. So if you don't see on my list what should be an obvious choice for every thrash top-ten, just know that either I haven't bought the album or your idea of a good album is pure silliness.

Also, let it be known that I originally included an "Honorable Mentions" list as well, but it became way, way too freakin' long. I could have easily made a Top 30 list for the year, but I only have so much time and patience (as do you, I'm sure), so I axed the honorables.

Now...let's get started!!

 10. Conflagrator - Inevitable Punishments

These guys cranked out a killer self-released EP with songs chock-full of thick riffs hammered over heavy, mid-paced rhythms.

9. Dr. Living Dead - Radioactive Intervention

Delivering another lesson in energetic crossover thrash, Dr. Living Dead offered up an album every bit as good as their debut.

8. Bio-Cancer - Ear Piercing Thrash

A chaotic mass of head-jolting riffage and venomous vocals weaved together in a rather original sound. Just an undeniably powerful album.

7. Testament - Dark Roots of Earth

As I said in my review for this album, "Testament managed to take everything they have perfected over the course of the band's career and build upon that foundation to give us an album that is savagely hungry, effectively beautiful, and as heavy as a near-flawless metal album should be." Too true.

6. Violentor - Rot

Their second album is another vicious attack of balls-out punk thrash. The riffs are infectious, creating songs that are satisfyingly catchy and brutal all at once.

5. Insinnerator - Hypothermia

Insinnerator's second release takes the unique sound of their debut and adds a confidence and maturity to the songwriting, making it all tighter, meaner, and completely neck-shredding. Utterly fantastic.

4. Overkill - The Electric Age

Veterans showing the young'uns how to CRUSH! When I read interviews with Blitz about his competitive spirit against the young and hungry thrash bands, he shows that while he and D.D. are older and wiser, they are every bit as hungry. The Electric Age is one hell of a kick in the ass.

3. Tantara - Based on Evil

At the time, the wait for this album to drop was excruciating. So much hype surrounded Based on Evil, and when it finally became available, I felt the music surpassed expectations. Based on Evil rages with well-written thrash, propelled by killer old-school riffing and ripping vocals. This will be considered a classic album within the NWOTM.

2. Lich King - Born of the Bomb

Pure thunder from a band clearly on top of their game. It's interesting to wonder if Lich King knew how special and thoroughly kick-ass an album Born of the Bomb was going to be as they were writing it. I love how people were almost surprised at just how damn good BotB is. We live in crazy times when a band like Lich King still remains unsigned to a solid metal label.

1. 4ARM - Submission For Liberty

Modern thrash done perfectly. With Submission For Liberty, 4ARM created a bulldozer of a metal album with hardly an inch of filler. Completely engrossing, Submission For Liberty contains dynamic musical passages of aggression and beauty that soars along on the backs of tight, well-crated riffs and rhythms. Smart, lively, and it freakin' CRUSHES.

Mexico's ARSONIST delivers punk thrash that ROCKS!

Mexico's ARSONIST cooks up a taste of some gritty, pissed, crusty punk metal.

Taking a page from the likes of Toxic Holocaust, Violentor, and even Scissorfight, Arsonist rips through with barbed riffs of pure distorted bliss, all catchy and dynamic as hell.

The bass sound on here is completely SICK, adding a strong dimension to the production. Songs such as Setting Fire use this sound to its advantage, offering a sonic nose-punch halfway through the song as the bass leads the guitar into a pit-instigating stomp.

From the turbo-charged opening to the song Muerto en Las Vias to the swampy riff-rock opening to Ambitions of Death, there is much to love on Arsonist's self-titled EP.

I'm seriously gonna play the hell outta this one.

The good news is that they are offering it up as a FREE download. Check this stuff out below and go tell Arsonist how much they kick ASS here.

Weekend Breakdown with Animas and DSMB

Over in Wincher, VA, there be METAL going by the name of ANIMAS. Listening to their new EP titled Blood on the Iron, fans of power thrash will find much to enjoy.  Maiden-esque guitar gallops merge with epic, moody solo sections while vocalist/bassist John Habuda flips from a rough Mustaine-sounding vox to demonic screams.

Most of the music is slow to mid-paced grinding metal, mixing plenty of melody with the aggression, but there are definitely moments of explosive thrash to keep the dynamics popping. The twin guitar work of Kyle Luttrell and Kory Campbell kicks mucho ass, bringing to mind a less frenzied Chris Peterson (of Cellador fame) style - and such, turned a lot of Animas's music into pure ear candy for yours truly.

Give ANIMAS a shot by listening to the tune below and then visit them here.





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For a more abrasive direction, let's check out Australia's crossover thrashers DSMB. Their self-titled EP was released last year and I'm pissed that I've only recently discovered these guys.

DSMB's 6-song quick blast of face-shattering crossover first caught my attention with their relentless homage to old-shcool thrash/punk, but then thoroughly kicked my ass with their catchy, slammin' riffage. DSMB show diverse influences all over the thrash map (hints of S.O.D., Slayer, Municipal Waste, and even Vio-lence), but always with a foot planted in the crossover sub genre, helped along with vocalist Boskie's pissed-off and on-target delivery.

Over repeated listenings, I love the self-titled EP more and more. Check out the songs below and then hit up DSMB here where you can download a few of their songs for free, or stream the entire EP here.

Humungus! 'Nuff said!

Let's get back into the madness with a Richmond, VA band that blesses the listener with a hammerface full of killer chugging metal. HUMUNGUS rides the line of traditional metal and thrash, offering up rough to clean/high-pitched sonic screams with ferocious e-string destroying riffage.

Their tune Martial Law slams along with driving guitars until toward the middle of the song it almost turns into a Megadeth tribute song, vocal pattern and all. I'm not complaining - it still kicks ass, but it becomes obvious that old-school 'deth is a huge influence.

Humungus have a ton of killer ideas and when they work, they work really well. Check out the goods below and hit Humungus up here and here. If you dig 'em, buy their Drinkin' a Beer EP here.