Plastic Culture Pestilence

The old Teutonic thrash heroes are, well, mainly old. A lot of the late outputs of early flagships like Destruction, Kreator or Tankard is simply not able to compete with their classic stuff and I do not know many people with the contrary opinion. Holy Moses also belongs in this list, but Sabina was clever enough to call it a day after the quite terrible “Invincible Queen”. Let us be honest, an overdue action.

And what about younger bands? Some of them are promising (Skeleton Pit, Ravager, Tempest), but there are also formations that enrich the scene only in terms of quantity. Hateful Agony from the Bavarian capital have already released seven full-lengths, but only one review so far. This is an indication of their rather irrelevant status, but we know that the world is full of injustice and therefore this interim result does not say a lot about the quality of their music. “Plastic Culture Pestilence”, their sixth long-player from 2018, is surely no milestone every thrasher should be familiar with. Nevertheless, the guys sound the thrash alarm in an authentic manner and do not present a lukewarm disc.

Of course, one thing is clear right from the outset. Hateful Agony’s music consists of a certain number of elements and all of them are well known since decades. But it is difficult or impossible to attack with old school thrash while using innovative building blocks. Therefore I see no reason to blame the dudes for the selection of their stylistic devices. What we get is a more than solid package. Close-to-collapse vocals meet sawing guitars and thundering drums that do not shy away from high velocities. Some background choir shouts are integrated, but they do not turn the album into a punk release. In some moments, the more or less well-hung riffs make it impossible to think not of Slayer or Exodus, but the influence of the Godfathers of thrash is not too dominant. Other formations have also left their footprints on the scene and in the sound of Hateful Agony and the socio-critical lyrics of tracks such as “Eternal Punishment” or “Black Blood” reflect a typical, yet not Slayer-esque approach.

“The Iceman” is the name of the first track that grabs me by the collar and draws me really into the album. Its silent and ominous guitar intro flows quickly into expressive, sinister guitar lines before the song accelerates tempo. Everything is heading towards the clearly defined and comparatively memorable chorus. Maybe the bridge does not meet the highest expectations, but all in all this is a very strong piece which whets the appetite for more. Admittedly, the songwriting skills of the band dpes not achieve the highest degrees. “Plastic Culture Pestilence” is free from obvious fillers, but there are a couple of tracks which celebrate a little thrash feast without leaving a remarkable impression. “Life’s Failure” is kicked off by a very promising instrumental start, but then the song fails to develop its full potential. Anyway, the energetic way of proceeding lends the album almost the scent of a debut and the mix increases the dynamic of the music. The full-length sounds like a thrash album should sound and that’s a good thing. So if Hateful Agenda want to have some fun on local or national stages and in the studio, they do a good job. If they have “taking the world by storm” on their agenda, I fear their mission will fail.