Soul Assault

Sometimes I think about the ridiculousness of liking such an unknown release. How could I explain to my friends about this amazing band I've found, Deus Vult? "Yep, they self-released a cassette EP over 25 years ago...and it KILLS!". I've tried talking openly about this type of heavy metal before, even the most seasoned fans of underground metal tend to shrug if I mention an album like 'Soul Assault'. Considering the trouble I also go through to even obtain a copy, it would almost seem unnecessarily stressful to enjoy a band like this.

The reason I continue combing the Metal Archives for new bands to enjoy is the occasional high quality release waiting for me under a pile of false leads. 'Soul Assault' came to me years ago when I was trying to find bands similar to Dutch thrash group Deafen. I don't know if the blogger who made that connection for me was right, but either way the one official release from Deus Vult was worth the effort to find.

Their sound is thrash overall, with frequent touches of progressive/power metal. All five songs have the necessary hooks, compositions and variations to hold a listener's interest throughout. Headbangers looking for something heavy to blast will be happy, as will anybody who is ready for more complex thrash songwriting that goes beyond one speed wonder territory. Naturally, some songs take a little extra time to grow on you due to this added complexity, and to be honest the production adds a little challenge to your listening experience too. Considering this is a self-released EP from 1990, the production isn't bad or anything. It's just a little lo-fi, so expect a somewhat flat guitar tone and fuzzy sounding drums.

The type of cohesion on this release usually only happens when all band members contribute equally. As a drummer myself, I can say that thrash metal drumming is often my least favorite part of the genre. Unfortunately for some more well-known bands, Virgil D.B. performs better than many drummers I've heard in the genre. He avoids the constant snare drum up-notes that define thrash metal but also get tiresome after a while. His playing is as complex as the rest of the music, always accenting the guitar work whether it calls for clever fills or pounding double bass. There's an added quality of confidence that can't quite be described, almost like he recorded songs in one take.

Guitarists Brent Chasteen and Mark Engel present a host of very tasteful riffing through each song. It's gotten to the point where I sometimes have to finish a night's music listening with this album because anything else I play afterward feels like a letdown. I can't isolate a single song as the best example, but I do remember almost driving off the road to the riff at about 4:35 during 'In the Rain' because I couldn't help but start headbanging. Not every riff they play is a slamming heavy one. Opening track 'Spiritus' provides the best examples of their progressive style. Lead playing on this album also stands out way more than it should for, again, such an unknown release.

What am I forgetting? ....oh right, the vocals! I have to say, Aaron Thomas' singing on 'Soul Assault' has become one of my favorite performances. How many times have you been amazed by the musicians on an album, only to find a singer who's so off-putting you just cannot listen? No worries about that here. His voice is very good, it definitely sounds professionally trained. He has a higher tone than the countless shouty, grunty thrash vocalists I'm more familiar with. 'Waiting for White' probably has his most impressive delivery, through the clean intro especially. Other tracks feature a more aggressive voice that is so powerful it makes me hate a lot of other poser singers retroactively. As a diehard Iced Earth fan, I have to wonder what it would've been like for Aaron Thomas to have joined that band after Deus Vult broke up- just in time to record 'Night of the Stormrider'!

Overall, this album has some of the highest value you can get. Five songs that are on the long side for a thrash band, but they are so jammed with powerful performances that you will be angry to learn that this was their only official-ish release. There are two final notes I have to make: the song 'Twilight's Last Gleaming' mentioned on their band page here is absolutely worth the trouble to find. Usually I don't bother tracking down an even more obscure recording like that, because those compilation songs tend to be about as good as some tacked-on bonus song (meaning, a throwaway).

The other final note, I have heard that obscure metal powerhouse Divebomb Records plans on releasing one of their top shelf packages featuring 'Soul Assault' and their nearly LP-length 1991 demo. My guess is that it will happen later in 2017, but either way please pick up a copy of that CD when it comes out. Go listen to 'Soul Assault' now and get excited in the meantime!