A Mounting Crisis... As Their Fury Got Released

Grief of War is a relatively new thrash metal band hailing from Tokyo, Japan, and they have just re-released their album “A Mounting Crisis… As Their Fury Got Released” through Prosthetic Records. Though originally released in 2005, Grief of War’s debut album did not receive a lot of attention worldwide, something which may well change with the re-released on Prosthetic Records.

Though the words “Japanese thrash” might make one think about bands such as Abigail and Barbatos, Grief of War take quite a different approach to the genre. Musically, Grief of War’s sound hearkens back to the late 80s thrash metal sound, nothing less, but not too much more either. They seem a lot more serious than a band like Abigail, something which is reflected in both the lyrical approach as in the vocal delivery. Manabu Hirose’s vocal performance – reminding me of Sodom’s Tom Angelripper – is good both on its own and backed up by gang shouts. The album contains songs both slow and pounding, as well as blisteringly fast songs with well-executed solos, all of which containing some good thrash riffs. The drumming is wholly without the use of double bass, suiting the feel of the album quite nicely. The production is rather rough, but it remains enjoyable throughout the album. Thrash never was a genre that benefited from overly polished production and “A Mounting Crisis…” is no different in this.

One of the main downsides that plague Grief of War (and most bands within the thrash genre nowadays, honestly), is that it does not seem like they are creating music that contains any fresh ideas. It is always a struggle coming up with new musical concepts and Grief of War does not really manage this aspect of creating music at all. None of the music is too renewing or inspired and most fans of thrash metal will not be finding anything strikingly original on this release. This is not necessarily a bad thing, however, since “A Mounting Crisis…” is still a decent enough album to make you want to spin it every once in a while and just enjoy the thrash songs that are dished out on it.

The album contains a good amount of decent thrashing songs for old and new fans alike and though they bring nothing new to the genre, it is worth checking out. Just do not expect too much of it.

(Originally written for http://www.gothtronic.com/)