The Age of Entitlement

With a truckload of modern trite penned by the once-magnificent Aftermath, Xentrix, and Toxik, I'm starting to think thrash metal is no country for old men. Then again, if the NWOTM scene is any indication, it doesn't seem like a country for young men, either. Acid Reign attempts to be an exception with their 2019 comeback The Age of Entitlement, and frankly they're an easy band to root for. They were always a bit of an underdog, like many UK thrash bands, and speaking as a full-time worker with no social media presence nor any desire to be loved by everyone on the planet, I found their opinions on my generation pretty quenching.

This album has some other things going for it, too. A wide range of perky riffs have a malcontented bounce in their step, often boasting a few ostentatious setpieces to keep you engaged. The spicy guitar flourishes are especially welcome in the album's more exhaustive epics like '#newagenarcissist' and the peculiarly horror-themed 'Within the Woods'. Overall, it cuts a consistently energetic pace, and its guitar tone is satisfyingly #thicc, unlike that shrinkwrapped sound blighting so many other modern thrash albums of the last decade. This results in an album that's remarkably easy to power through, with uncomplicated ideas and a pretty convincing delivery. I would even go so far as to say this album is "beginner friendly" for people trying to get into thrash metal.

This "too cool for school" attitude mostly works in its favor, but not in terms of vocals and drum patterns. Vocals strike me as very passive, with an all-purpose shout never calling much attention to itself, reminding me of many NWOTM airballs like Hatchet and Hyades. Drumming is similarly status quo, offering little in the way of engaging fills or polyrhythms. In fairness, this is in keeping with the rest of the songwriting, and indeed Acid Reign's trademark sound of yore, but it leaves mid-tempo malingerers like 'My Peace of Hell' and 'United Hates' sounding pretty stagnant.

And yes, the track titles are pretty good indicators of the type of lyrics you're in for as well. Think Cyclone Temple but even less subtle. Despite this, Acid Reign managed to impress me with a stable of competent, digestible thrash anthems that resemble their own source material a lot more than crapola like Kinetic Closure. But maybe that's not enough to compel you, you stubborn boomer/lazy millennial/self-obsessed zoomer.