March of Plague

Thrash metal from Israel is something you surely won’t see each day. However, Strident are more than just a curiosity. The band has been formed back in 2004, with the new full length “March of Plague” being only their second album. They managed to get a deal at the established Italian label Punishment 18 Records which should already give a hint about the quality of the material discussed here, and they perfectly fit into the label’s roster. This album is a statement from a very talented and professional band and can easily stand its ground against the work of the international elite.

The crunchy heaviness of the rhythm guitar is pitched against some fantastic harmonies of the leads, lending the whole affair a very uplifting atmosphere. The guys have a great feeling for hooky riffs and catchy refrains, making each song just pure fun from start to finish. The songwriting is straight and on point, without coming across as being too simple. There are some really nice soloing sections, but those are never too exaggerated and they have been perfectly embedded into the flow of the respective songs. Overall I tend to say that the riffs and the guitar playing in general are the main star of the show here.

The rhythm is on point, with the drumming being very tight, switching between groovy sections and some outbursts of chaos and destruction. These moments are perfectly placed over the record, and while the instrumentation is top notch, the music never gets too complex. The band keeps the main focus on balanced songwriting and heavy grooves. The most emphasis has been put on producing some straight-to-the-point tunes.

The structure of the songs is based on the traditional verse-chorus formula, making the whole music pretty accessible from the get-go. The guys have a great feeling for melodies and harmonies and at least half of the songs are real earworms. Not only the single songs are well-crafted but the whole album has a nice flow with speedy and furious parts alternating with slower and intense pieces. Rhythm and tempo changes are embedded in a natural and stringent way, lending the music additional variation and intensity. The placement of the tracks is done in a way that something is always happening and there is no chance for boredom.

Singer Dmitri has a classic and powerful voice. His shouting and screaming perfectly fits the instrumentation, and his delivery underlines the intensity of “March of Plague”. The production is crisp and punchy, with no details being buried in the mix. This is an album played with a lot of passion and love for metal music by some talented musicians and I can only recommend any fan of traditional thrash metal played the modern way to check it out.