Relentless Night

Chainbreäker from Austria have with "Relentless Night" their somophore album at the start, released via Metal on Metal Records. Visually, the quartet has already improved significantly (as far as the cover is concerned), I personally think that the cover often decides whether you want to listen to an album or not, so there is already a plus point for this.

It starts with a short keyboard intro, which could have come from a horror movie of the 8o's and then the four Austrians start with "Nightstalker" directly. A straightforward mixture of speed and thrash metal that catches the ear and stays there. Cool, catchy riffs and melodic solos form the heart of the whole. "Vile Hounds" impresses with vicious vocals and riffs (especially at the beginning, which almost sound like death metal). The next tracks are quite fast songs, too with hypnotic, repetitive, fast riffs. A bit of Iron Maiden comes out here and there. "Relentless Night" starts off Motörhead-like, only to turn into a fast speed killer song that is one of the catchiest songs on the album. Again, the singer sounds extremely hateful, which adds atmosphere to the song. The cool attitude is further enhanced by the gang shouts. With "The Axe" the guys take the axe out of the closet and poach in Slayer territory. Paired with ingenious solos, it also becomes a highlight, cool track!!! Also the remaining songs can keep the high level of the other tracks, also here the one or other time Iron Maiden and Slayer is paid homage, but I personally disturb this in any way.

What particularly excites me about the CD are, as already mentioned a few times, the combination of melodic solos, paired with energetic, driving riffs, which always show musical finesse. The aggressiveness that singer Christoph puts on the day, makes the whole thing a round thing. A good mixture of speed, thrash and classic heavy metal, which one likes to listen to more often.
Production-wise, the somewhat wooden drums bother me a bit, but otherwise I find everything arranged very appealing, so here also rather a plus point.

As a conclusion I would say, who goes for Speed/Thrash Metal and stands on singers in the style of Agent Steel, Ranger or Vulture, can access here without hesitation. Cool album that does not reinvent the wheel, but is very diverting and entertaining.

Rating: 8,7 out of 10 axes

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.

Do all the bands that sign to Metal on Metal Records need an umlaut in their names? It seems almost a condition of being on the label, and Chainbreäker are no exception, shoehorning their extra metal street cred onto a fairly unpronounceable ‘ea’ sound. Still, at least this quartet are Austrian, so they have more right to use the symbol than most. My first dalliance with the thrashers begins right here with this second full-length released at Halloween last year and I’m currently pleased about what I hear. Rather than thrash directly in the manner of modern bands like Game Over and Gama Bomb, Chainbreäker mix in a little influence from both speed and black metal to sound more in line with dirty throwback artists like Toxic Holocaust, Children Of Technology, and Whipstriker. That brings a touch more unpredictable danger to their high-octane sound and forces me to accept Relentless Night as a slightly silly but fitting album title.

The way the band riff suits me just right, impulsively pushing the speedometer while attending to groove as well, alternating manic double-bass assaults with more chug-focused mid-tempo sections. That leaves songs like ‘Iron Grave’ and ‘The Axe’ exhibiting the kind of momentum that Sodom have lent to some crossover-leaning artists, whereby cutting pace arguably leads to the most destructive riffing of all thanks to bulkier sound and pure confidence exuding from both rhythms and raspy shrieked vocals. Across 9 songs, this technique gets plenty of use, while ‘A Prayer Down the Drain’ expands way past the 3 and a half minute average to cover chugging verses and sinister ringing chord suspense in greater quantities. That long cut eventually kicks into high gear after more than 4 minutes to attack religion first vocally and then with a searing lead and twin guitar melody line. It bears mentioning that the title track would possibly even fool some disciples of the Norwegian black thrash sound into worshipping at the altar of Chainbreäker, since it sounds just a mite more bloodthirsty in the vocals and riffs, charging ahead at constant levels of semi-insanity without any concessions to melody.

If I’m looking for any reason to find fault with Relentless Night, it’s because the album doesn’t feel relentless enough, nor dark enough to be called anything much beyond late evening. On the one hand, the rabid thrashing on offer becomes mixed with traditional heavy metal in most of the solos and a few melodic moments, reducing the potential for a listener to leave bruised and smiling; on the other hand, the album could have been even more fun with a higher dose of touch-in-cheek attitude and disregard for strict genre trappings, sort of how Witchery made a couple of blistering albums at the start of their career that were poised between Mercyful Fate, Aura Noir, and Skeletonwitch (the latter ignoring chronology). In regards to Chainbreäker, this sophomore effort aims more obviously for the thrash crowd looking for more speedy and occult methods to bang their heads, certainly not ruling the Austrians out of a large fanbase but also ensuring that the potential purposes for Relentless Night do not number so many. Still, an album to wreck your neck to after dark - there’s always room for one more of those.