Airborne

Wine Country Thrashers, Refuge, have returned after a hiatus of releases. The question remains: Are they truly back for good? And will they be able to hold there own in 2015 against other Bay Area metal acts? This single titled "Airborne" is the answer to the first and the for teller to second of these two questions. I have mixed feelings about "Airborne," but rest assured this song's pros outweigh its cons.

The first forty-two seconds are an intro dominated by a mix of low synths with a pulsating, beeping sound and a heart beat. The intro's production was quite nice and sounded much better than the production of Refuge's debut demo "Immortal." I thought that this professional sounding production would carry over to the main part of the song. I was wrong.

The rest of the single's production wasn't amazing and was barely any better than any of Refuge's music in the past. Despite being able to hear the bass sound and melodies, there was not a thick, solid wall of sound coming from the instrument. But this is not that big of a problem, because the bass lines were quite creative and shows the listener that good melodies don't stop at the guitar. The vocal production was better than earlier years but the vocals were not as melodic. The only really cool thing that the vocalist bothered to do was make a nice, shrill scream, at the song's opening. Don't get me wrong; I love unclean vocals. They are one of main things that makes metal, metal. But something rubbed me wrong about them. The drumming seemed on pint and furious, and its production was terrible as well. Guitarist Connor McFarland provided a blistering, frantic solo that fit well with the songs and stayed tight with other guitarist.

The level of difficulty of this song wasn't anything too crazy, especially in the drumming. Although the song/band nailed the old-school early 80's sound, the music wasn't anything mind-blowing or too memorable. Even though the slow groove at the last half of the tune wasn't too busy, it fit well with the song and allowed "Airborne" to become less monotonous. That is probably this song's best quality. It roars along and just when a riff begins to become old, a new melody pops up and balances the song very well. The 80's vibe is also something that's noteworthy. I would buy your claim hook, line and sinker if you told me that this was a song released by some obscure thrash metal group from the early 80's. Clearly, Refuge is a band that has done its musical homework.

Classic thrash bands have clearly made their influence on this band. As I briefly mentioned above. The first guitar riff of the song plays a riff that has an interesting similarity to the 3:02 mark of "Hell Awaits" by the one and only Slayer. There is also some Metallica and other bands if the 80's present here. If one were to listen from the 4:02 mark and on in "Airborne," the riff that the band plays is very close to the middle interlude riff of "Blackened" by Metallica. All of these similarities are probably intentional, and was a hit and miss for me.

So my answer to my first question is: Yes, Refuge is back and ready to thrash, but they need to polish up their act much more before they release any new material. I say this not from the standpoint of a critic, but as a fan of their music, who knows that if the band can cover Slayer and Megadeth at its live shows, then it can absolutely succeed in making some high quality, fit-to-boot thrash. The music they have created in "Airborne" is a great kick-start back into the present.