Crush the Demons Inside

I can’t stress just how much the metal community seems to be sleeping on Mosh-Pit Justice. I’ve barely heard another human being mention the band ever, and yet they have a remarkably consistent discography over the last 10 years, a wonderful vocalist, an insane amount of great riffs, and lyrics that touch on all the big things wrong with the world. I didn’t realize that being from a sidelined nation like Bulgaria could be such a disadvantage, yet I can’t think of another reason why they shouldn’t be madly popular. In some ways, having reviewed all of the trio’s releases (now an EP and 6 albums), I have nothing new to say about Mosh-Pit Justice, although a lot of the main points bear repeating.

View these guys as a thrash metal outfit if it helps you get your head in order, just keep in mind that they don’t sound quite like all the traditional American thrash that comes to mind. Nor German stuff really, nor any particular scene. Even those power thrash acts like Sanctuary and perhaps Forbidden can’t emphasize the way in which Staffa’s backing riffs and drums builds such fantastic momentum, the band hurtling at high mid-pace as Georgy Peichev thunders out his vocals like he’s trying to break down a riot barrier with voice alone. Both of these elements in tow lend a real epic edge to the songs, which likely translates to the 5 minutes plus of all 8 numbers on Crush the Demons Inside, despite all weirdly being roughly the same length. When I say “epic”, let me qualify that there’s really no pomp to the experience, except a few grand-sounding slower breaks - more that the sheer heroism of the occasion demands such a term be used. Some of the solos provide slight drops in intensity, yet maintain that sort of proud demeanour nicely, such as during ‘Get to the Pit’, which is a title I wouldn’t usually associate with emotional delivery.

Another misleading title is ‘A Moment of Silence’, which leads off the album with a gradual introduction and then 5 minutes of energetic thrashing. I don’t want to say that all Mosh-Pit Justice songs sound the same, yet each one certainly feels like a familiar experience and there’s little to separate all the albums in their catalogue. The only thing preventing me from saying that these blokes should vary things a bit is that their main style just works so damn well; if anything, I’d probably request a couple more tempo shifts rather than a total change in approach. In any case, Crush the Demons Inside goes up there into a discography where everything is at least very good and pretty distinctive, if never actually groundbreaking.