As Above, So Below

So I've been on a thrash binge recently and found this little fucker on Thrashmageddon. Honestly, I had no idea what I was in for. Seriously, where did this come from!? It has the pure catastrophic riffage of fucking Torture Squad but more syncopated; It has seriously tasty solowork with melodies on par with Heathen; and these bastards don't let up! I mean song after song, they grab you by the balls and make you their prison bitch with absolutely no choice other than to headbang until the album ends.

So how does this album rule so much? I've briefly touched on riffage and solowork in the previous paragraph and I shall expand on them. This is indeed a canonical example of fine riffage, listen to "Isolation." Does that not make your head bang? Does that not make you thrash about? That one riff alone, you'll know the one I'm talking about, is pretty much sold me on the band. Then comes that solo, with that arpeggio half-sweep, *orgasmic sigh*. Damn the Germans sure kicked the American's ass in thrash, then and now. Let's say that again, this is better than most of the new breed of thrash bands from America or even jolly ole England.

But what about the other instruments? Let's see: Vox, check; Bass, double check; Drums, you betcha! The vox here are quite good, he comes from the same school of vox as Schmier or Angelripper and that is a plus my friends. The bass is actually audible and this guy plays interesting bassruns, this is the area that most thrash bands forget. The drums here are very good, this guy must've taken lessons from that guy in Torture Squad or Ventor, their influence cannot be denied and although the drumming may sound pedestrian at times, overall this man is capable of more than the standard thrash beat and more than capable of capturing your attention.

The production here is typical clean thrash...yeah it sounds like an oxymoron but bear with me. The production still retains the thrash feel while being clean. You can hear all the instruments although the drums and bass are slightly buried. The guitars and vox are pulled upfront and the tone for the guitar absolutely kicks ass. The production is clean because it's free from buzzes, crackles, reverb and other production no-nos.

Get it? Hell yes! By any means necessary. An album that is not to be missed, although the first few songs are kinda short. All in all, essential thrash...from '08!