Relentless Night

At the end of October 2020, Austria's juvenile demolition squad called Chainbreäker reported back. "Wasteland City" had been a promising debut that, to my recollection, stood with both feet on the ground of old school thrash. That's what old geezers like me enjoy, who categorically reject innovations in thrash since the advent of the first headbands and Bermuda shorts (I only say Anthrax and Suicidal Tendencies). Unfortunately, a few details have now slipped in on "Relentless Nights" that I would rather assign to speed metal, for example the squealing solo in "Nightstalker", the Viking metal-like opening of “Into Eternal Silence” or the closing track "S.M.P." with the warped guitar in the chorus. Suddenly the rebellious undertone of pure thrash is no longer in the foreground, instead you enjoy the fast guitar playing as an end in itself. That is a bit of a pity.

But there is also good news from Austria. No, I don't mean that the hotels there are opening again after all the Corona nonsense. Rather, the thrash hammer dominates on "Relentless Night". Or should I better say the thrash saw? The guitars of energetic, lively blasts like "Iron Grave" cut, saw and tear everything to pieces, that's for sure. Other bursts of thrashing viciousness are also right on target. "Vile Hounds" starts off relatively restrained, but builds up almost intoxicatingly. Of course, one can be of the opinion that the guys don't know how good thrash has to sound. But whoever holds this opinion probably also claims that the earth is a disc.

The album was recorded in a studio in Braunau (near Linz) and it simply sounds good. Its mix glitters with sharpness, transparency and well-defined instrumentation. If one of my grandfathers were still alive, he would surely say now that it was about damn time that something positive finally came out of Braunau - but that's another story. Let’s get back to the production of this ten-tracks-work. Everything is well-balanced and this makes it easy to forget the less strong moments. For example, I do not really know why the casually titled, but musically only solid “A Prayer Down the Drain” is twice as long as the other tracks. However, I don’t care. “Relentless Night” is not as excellent as “Wasteland City”, but still a good release. The pretty variable shouting of the lead vocalist reflects the passion and the enthusiasm of the guys and it just makes fun to stumble about some early Slayer riffs in the instrumental parts of “The Axe”. However, the best is yet to come. “Out of the Crypt” marks the restless, fast-paced, straight and deadly highlight. It shows the glory of a catchy one-tone-chorus which is embedded in a perfectly thrashing surrounding. Of course, reinforcing background shouts must not be missing in this context. So there is no doubt in my mind: you can also have fun with the second best record by Chainbreäker.