Meat Grinder

For these Italians to sound concomitantly like Slayer, D.R.I., and Vulcano, yet also to be fairly dull is probably a feat in itself. As a debut album, Meat Grinder can be excused for mixing influences without much regard for novelty, though stealing two or three riffs from South of Heaven in the opening song, not to mention a couple of patented Jeff Hanneman solos, is more derivative than one would hope. However, minor points can be awarded for the slight hardcore and crossover tendencies that are most obvious on the 40-second burst of ‘L.M.T.’, but also form the gang vocals that crop up in many songs. The name Vulcano appears above in order to emphasize the extreme shout and general sloppiness of Enzo de Bartolomeo’s vocals, which certainly do not provide the finishing touch to the otherwise competent musicianship.

From the aforementioned triumvirate of significant influences, one can see that Assaulter like playing fast if nothing else, a feature which dominates the majority of the release. However, their speed often comes with the impression that things are not quite under control, particularly when the less thrashy speed parts crash their way forwards with mere pace and no momentum, a point on which the mid-paced Slayer elements satisfy much more. The prominence of bass in the mix, as well as several high-profile bass solos, also rather muddies the overall sound, leaving the heavy dose of riffs less cutting than thrash fans would like.

The unfortunate fate of Meat Grinder is that it doesn’t contain many memorable songs, aside from the blatant Slayer riff-off of ‘Assaulter’, the slightly original ‘Dead End Siding’, and the horrible puking sounds that open ‘Bestial Vomit’. For now, it’s advisable that Assaulter slow down, think of some riffs of their own, and take some classes in singing, or at least pronunciation.


Originally written for Metalegion #3 - www.metalegion.com

Formed in late 2007, the Italian speed/thrashers named Assaulter have quietly set out to bring forth their odes to old-school speed and thrash metal as a slew of lineup issues initially kept their first release until 2012 when the band had become faster and much more technical. Now finally at the time to unleash their first professional release, the bands’ full-length debut was released April 12, 2017 on EBM Records.

Bringing the fire and fury from their early work, there’s plenty of rather strong and impressive work throughout here which makes for a fine start. The basic style here of utilizing the speed metal riff-work, firing off the tight and thunderous riffing which really amps up the intensity of these speed metal riffs. There’s a strong and dynamic attack here that makes for a rather enjoyable approach here with the fiery riff-work zipping along at those far more vicious and frantic patterns that makes for a far more engaging time here with the thrilling old-school thrash rhythms still on-track here keeping this one with a rumbling, heavy backbone to the speed-metal lashings and furthers this one quite nicely. While the basic experience here is quite enjoyable and makes for a really solid starting point, the fact that there’s a minor flaw here makes for a somewhat lesser experience where the album goes into way too many half-a-minute instrumental interludes that interrupts the flow of the release a little too much to really take the main intensity out of the album. Rather, this one feels like they could’ve been more as proper song intros rather than separate tracks, and it stifles the album somewhat, but even with this there’s not a whole lot really wrong elsewhere here.

Coming along rather nicely here with plenty of really enjoyable and frantic speed metal assaults laced with solid thrash metal leanings, a few minor shake-ups in the running order does hold it down slightly enough here for this one to really be of interest for those looking for speed metal or solid old-school thrash.