Anastasis

Yep, gone is the silence, gone are the screams from earlier instalments, the band also taking a break from their new-millennium-spawned project, the modern thrash cohort Armortura (self-titled, 2018)… and a high time for that if you ask me, as it’s been more than five years since they reminded of their first offspring, Holosade that is, with a re-release of the 1994 demo. A very cool collection of classic thrash hymns that one, patiently waiting for a distinguished sequel…

which is finally in the theatre next to you. Run there right now, don’t waste a precious second cause you’ll surely come across one of the highlights of 2021… no kidding. The English gang aren’t fooling around, and not only but they’ve also notched up their act in a major way by bringing the axeman Adam Ironside from the Armortura stint. It doesn’t become very clear whether it’s because of this guy’s presence, or due to a heightened proficiency exercised by the veteran Paul Trotter, but the guitar work simply slays, a near-non-stop flamboyant virtuoso parade that will call to mind the Hansen/Weikath exploits on the early Helloween outings. I guess it’s the chemistry between the two that conflagrates this recording provided that they also shred together in the mentioned Armortura, where very few signs of visionary guitar pyrotechnics can be detected.

Anyway, let’s focus on this “Anastasis” here now which is easily the band’s finest hour regardless of their very episodic appearance. A hard thrashing riff-fest served as an inauguration gesture with "7 Seconds", a 5, not 7, -min semi-technical ripper the guys upgrading their delivery to more complex dimensions with the seriously mazey, also fairly dynamic "Through the Eyes of Wrath". Consider "Ascension from the Waves" a stopover of some sorts, a more tamed mid-pacer without too many ornaments, the latter jumping each other the whole time on the prog-thrash masterpiece "Money to Burn", a multi-layered journey with never a dull moment. The awe-inspiring six string acrobatics reach a peak on "Chaos Takes Control" and "Rise", thrilling rises… sorry, rides chock-full of both riff and lead heroics to the Shrapnel catalogue lover’s utter delight. What follows, however, is "Something Follows", a lost chapter from the Jason Becker discography, a choppy stop-and-go proposition the band using the lack of speed to greatly accentuate on the virtuoso-prone guitar feats. The saga is wrapped on by a summative exercise, “Detonation to Oblivion”, an 11-min odyssey which needless to add has it all, from impetuous speedy skirmishes, to tight intricate rifforamas, to quiet balladic sections (the intro), to for the umpteenth time impressive six-string rhetorics, to even a few innocent attempts at modern quasi-groove.

De Sade (Philip, not the marquis) makes no changes to his vocal bravado, emitting passion and authority in a controlled composed fashion, his forceful semi-shouty/semi-clean timbre seldom stretched to the higher registers. Music-wise this isn’t quite a rendition of the guys’ earlier offerings; this is more complex, more technically-proficient stuff that is comparable to recent Paradox and the not very known Polish speed/thrashers Hellfire. The musicians obviously have quite a bit of fun playing, sounding inspired and revitalized, also eager to display this new-found passion for the progressive and the technical. And fair play to that cause the English metal scene by all means needs another hell house erected… a clean, well-ordered, meticulously-constructed house where only tunes made of the best metal out there are allowed to dwell.