Eradicate... Annihilate... Exterminate...

Adherents to the thrash revival seem bereft of any concept of subtlety, particularly when it comes to making their statement of intent via an album title. Granted, there are only so many ways to articulate a scenario where humanity has reached its demise, but the three synonymous terms that make up the name Eradicate...Annihilate...Eterminate..., there first full length shot of high octane thrash out of Germany's Ravager may well have raised the concept of overkill to an art form. But for any lack of artfulness that may be present on this album's exterior, this Teutonic upstart has opted for a road a bit less traveled compared to many of their fellow countrymen in their respective sub-genre. Eschewing the groove-infused and overly compressed modernity that has defined their principle influences of late, namely Exodus and Destruction, this is about as overt of a throwback to the late 80s sound as has been heard since the revival began back in 2002.

For an album that was released in 2017, this has all of the makings of something that would have been all the rage about 6 or 7 years prior. Perhaps the biggest indicator of a sound that is at least adjacent to the odes to pizza and beer is vocalist Philip Herbst, whose over-the-top shout and wails are almost a dead-ringer for Crisix's own Julián Baz. Pile on top of this a collection of highly familiar sounding riffs that tilt pretty heavy in the direction of Pleasures Of The Flesh with a sizable side order of Release From Agony, compacted into frenetic three to four minute doses, and this could basically be a slightly more amped up version of the early offerings of the aforementioned Spaniard mosh fanatics Crisix and their formerly thrashing Finnish compatriots Lost Society. Barring the timbre of the guitars being a bit warmer than the typical late 80s thrash production and the drums being a bit cleaner, this album could be renamed Party Like It's 1987/2011.

Though this is a tad on the derivative side, the band makes good use of all the tools they've appropriated and come up with a collection of songs that are both competent and hard-hitting. Foregoing any sort of extravagant introductions, they go straight for the jugular with a biting riff monster of an opening anthem in "Burn The Cross" (disclaimer: a song bashing religion, not a KKK anthem), which shifts seamlessly between a high octane crusher and a mid-paced bruiser. Other points of intrigue in this largely straight up collection of punchy odes to moshing include the menacing and occasionally melodic "Human Sacrifice", the somewhat elongated grower and quasi-epic "Superior Forces", and the slightly crossover-leaning closer "Alarm Clock Terror". But the song that really stands out of the bunch is actually the mid-paced and catchy as hell surgeon gone crazy banger "Dr. Mad", which is basically this band's answer to "Toxic Waltz", definitely a keeper.

This approach to thrash was allegedly played out 10 years ago, but for some reason they keep cropping up despite the continual insistence by the music media and others that it's dead and buried. Perhaps the rise in prominence of Power Trip breathed new life into this alleged zombie, or maybe if objective eyes were to gaze upon the accomplishments of Crisix and Lost Society (among others) in the early to mid-2010s, they'd see that these naysayers were full of it. Either way, by 2017 standards, or any other for that matter, this is a decent offering for those who like their thrash metal with a violent edge, but otherwise sticking to a more mainline approach aligned with Bay Area sensibilities and the lighter end of the Teutonic spectrum. It's been done before, it's still being done now, and it will likely continue to be done for the foreseeable future, so why not shut up, raise the horns and enjoy?