Join, or Die!

Here’s a thrash metal band that shows potential if they continue to work harder and improve their sound. The band has an interesting name and I’m a bit surprised no one else got to it first. It’s a bit strange, I think of “The Retention Center”, a place where educators at a school discover which students in their courses are at risk. Was this band formed by at risk students? I don’t know, but these musicians might need to go to their own retention center!

This is an EP (which sounds like a demo), so hopefully it leads to another EP or even a full-length album soon. It sounds like they’re influenced by Metallica and some other thrash acts, you can tell with the first song New Satanic Scripture. There are times where it kind of reminds me of Damage Inc from Metallica’s Master of Puppets. You will know what I mean if you listen to it. The lyrics are a bit lame on this EP and even the song titles are lame. I could barely understand what is being shouted. The band themselves seem to be on the young side, so I’ll cut them some slack for the lame lyrics and song titles. New Satanic Scripture is an ultra cool song title though, I will say that.

Bassist Tai Conger-Vigil uses some fuzz box distortion effect for his bass and it sounds quite good. Sometimes you hear it quite clearly at times. You don’t hear that many thrash metal bassists use that kind of effect. It’s unheard of in the thrash metal realm as far as I know. That effect does sound annoying at times, I will point that out. He showcases his bass skills mostly on the first song. He has his moments on Sanity and the other songs. He’s not an amazing bassist, but he is capable of being one with more practice. I don’t know if he’ll be as spectacular as Les Claypool, but you never know!

The lead vocalist & lead guitarist Ray Kissick sounds a little bit like Montana Max from Tiny Toon Adventures on vocals. He should voice Montana Max in the Tiny Toon Adventures reboot. It’s funny he sounds that way, but it oddly works with the instrumentation. There’s times where his vocals do sound off on the songs. There’s some great thrash metal riffs on Sanity and Scorch the Earth. Isiah Rivera does some decent rhythm guitar work and he has great guitar riffs. Both guitars use good distortion, they do put it to good use. The guitars could have been adjusted to be louder in the mix. The guitar solos are a bit zippy & sloppy and not memorable at all. I would say Left to Rot has a memorable guitar solo, that’s it.

The drumming by Raphael Lozano is a bit on the average side. His timing is good and it goes well with the other aspects. He has a fantastic drum kit with the necessary drum parts, but it sounds a bit lousy on this recording. The drums could a bit better in the recording. I’m not too impressed with the drumming. He applies simple thrash metal beats, which are okay. It’s sort of mid-paced to fast-paced kind of drums. His best drumming performance would probably be on Sanity and Scorch the Earth. He should practice some more and then he’ll better at the drumming.

Did I forgot somethings? The backing vocals are okay. Oh, there’s a pointless annoying sample found in the beginning of Left to Rot. Join, or Die (the title track) has an annoying sample in the beginning and the end. Oh and there’s somewhat cool speed metal riffs found on the title track. Oh and the guitar solo is memorable. I guess there’s two memorable solos found on this EP, Left to Rot and the title track.

It sounds like this release wasn’t mixed and mastered properly. To me, it seems like it was rushed. It needs to be mixed and mastered better. They seem to be failing in thrash. Time for them to take more lessons in thrash metal and speed metal, so they should create a retention center for Retention. I would also recommend they have a better sounding release next time. They seemed to be unfocused with this EP and they should improve. They have a shit ton of potential and I hope they do improve as time goes by. They seem to be at risk for failing and I do not want them to fail!d to be unfocused with this EP and they should improve. They have a shit ton of potential and I hope they do improve as time goes by.