Super Killer Fragile

The UK is sometimes overlooked as a thrash metal powerhouse, and because of the unrivaled popularity of the NWOBHM movement, it is rare when thrash metal comes to our minds when thinking of this country. But let's not make the mistake of forgetting that this country gave the metal world bands like Sabbat, Onslaught, and even Deathwish if you are aware of that band's debut, one of the most astonishing slabs of speed-thrash altogether. Speaking of Sabbat, have you ever heard of Simon Jones? Well, in 2017, he surrounded himself with a couple of competent, well-enthused musicians, and under the name Rift, started a thrash metal group whose debut is titled Super Killer Fragile. Thus, the people in Rift are no amateurs or newcomers to the metal scene, and the outcome reflects that rather well. If only everything went as well as the composition, this would be among the best albums to be mentioned in the thrash highlights of the 2010s.

It is hard to argue against the music on Super Killer Fragile. It is refined, well thought-out, and radiates professionalism and experience as few modern thrash debuts do. Stylistically, the band could be put somewhere between the smoothness of fellow countrymen Xentrix and the Teutonic Exumer, and the groovy hooks of Overkill and even Exhorder at certain moments. Few bands tried to nail the balance between those two sides, but here they go. Super Killer Fragile walks that line very well, indeed. The first reason for that is the first song on here, "Abomination of Desolation", which is rightfully the starter, being the most aggressive and striking piece on the record. It is fast, striking, energized, and uncompromising. It even holds a beautiful surprise for lovers of shred music in general — a sweeping melody under the chorus. Bizarre and unexpected, but this is coming from someone who will never say no to shredding, as long as it's done properly and fits the picture, and I must admit, it goes very well with the rest of the song. The follow-up "Diminish" is also clever, demonstrating the power of chugging along for a couple of seconds in the beginning, and then speeding up to faster tempos. It is that much more satisfying to listen to fast-paced thrash when it replaces a slow intro or a mid-paced section in the beginning, this is a common element that tens and tens of bands have been utilizing for decades, Rift being no exception. However, in the same song, the band manages to make the same pace sound good throughout the chorus and the solo. The fact that the drums pound away at the same pace is not a problem, instead, the tapping sequences in the solo feel like a smooth transition in a slideshow as opposed to rote monotony.

That's all good and well, but can the band write slower or mid-paced material just as well? Surely, Rift is no stranger to that side of things, either. In fact, "Flames of Hate" (hate, not hatred, this isn't Razor!) is slow, but it contains enough storytelling value and ominous pessimism through those eerie chord progressions and bitter broken chords for it to be a memorable piece. Bear strictly in mind that while it is slower, it is still heavy and ballsy, just the way mid-paced thrash should be. There's also "Free Speech Talking", the best song on the release percussively. Can you hear those complex double-pedal patterns, and how they constantly switch between the sections? It is refreshing to hear that this instrument is being used this way, this is not something you will encounter every day of the week. The group is also to be commended for the excellent arrangement of the songs, in a straightforward, logical way, in which a slow song comes after a fast one, and vice versa. A lot of things have been done right. The technicality is there, the creativity is there, and everything is sufficient musically to make this as good (or much better!) than most albums that came out in the 2010s that were released by the biggest names in thrash metal. Why is it not up there?

The answer is one word: production. This release is by far one of the most atrociously produced thrash metal albums I've ever heard out of the albums released in this millennium, and it is such a shame because it is great musically. The guitars are semi-okay because, at the very least, you can hear them. True, they are soft and cushy, not what they are supposed to sound like in thrash metal, but we heard production-related atrocities that had the guitar turned way down behind even the drums and even the bass. Listen to any other modern thrash disc, hell, listen to fellow countrymen Onslaught's VI, to listen to what guitars are supposed to sound like on a modern thrash release. Or the Greek Crucifier's Voices in my Head, which was released in the same year. Both of those albums' guitar tones are cutting, scratching, and aggressive, tuned exactly the way they'd match the music the bands are playing. But believe it or not, as underwhelming as the guitars are, they are not the worst part of the production. The worst part is the drums. My God, this is terrible. When I write about the snare in Gammacide's Victims of Science or to give you a modern example, the one in Released Anger's Faces of Fate, I talk about how explosive, sharp and crude they are, which is a positive thing in the context of thrash metal. The snare on this is as sharp as a rusted knife found underground at a construction site. This is exactly what I keep campaigning against in my reviews when I praise the hell out of the snare-tonalities in the aforementioned albums, but no better album demonstrates how drums shouldn't sound than this album. Soft, weak, lukewarm, dull beyond measure.

An album can be great musically, but as strange as that sound, the compositions will only take a band so far, if they are throttling the living hell out of themselves with a terrible sound. "Oh, but just focus on the music, enjoy what you like about it, okay?"... Sure, as if it was as simple as that. When you get reminded with every hit of the snare how deplorably this record has been produced, it is not so easy. If I've heard an album in my life that needs to be re-recorded and remixed, it is this one. With the fact that we haven't heard from the band since 2018, things look rather bleak for that project, but it would uplift me to see Super Killer Fragile get a re-recorded version, a disc that needs one, and if records that needs no re-recording would stop getting them. That'd be amazing.