Technakill

And they all will be nicely taken care of, I can promise you, by this bunch of maniacs from New Jersey, who graced the US underground with their presence one day, just like that, killing, and not very softly, all the non-true at the dawn of the new decade, with their schizophrenic technical thrashisms.

The time was appropriately chosen for such appearances as the scene took, literally overnight, a very technical/progressive turn, and both the official arena and the stealthy resistance started churning out masterpieces in quick succession, many from the latter side sneaking under many fans’ radar. Including our friends here who are not to be underestimated based on this 4-tracker here which comes as a really nice companion piece to Nasty Savage’s “Penetration Point”, built on very similar genuinely intricate riff-patterns and vortex-like twists.

The slaughter begins quite intimidatingly with “Intimidator” which sweeps you from the get-go with a shower of superb technical riffage, the dazzling cannonade carved by the piercing screams of the singer who uses every opportunity to stretch his vocal chords to the max; piles of intricacies are scattered all over as the delivery never leaves the mid-tempo parametres with nice melodic tunes helping on the side. “Black Hills” aims at the lofty Shrapnel dimensions with an outburst of virtuoso guitar pyrotechnics which race with the singer’s apocalyptic screams before impetuous gallops take care of business, their stride interrupted by pounding heavy sections the alternation between the two sides creating a lot of dramatism, not without the help of the vocals again which acquire a more normal hoarse semi-clean timbre at some stage, recalling Nasty Ronnie.

The instrumental “Strange Perspective” indeed offers a strange, or rather different, perspective to what has been heard so far with an enchanting balladic etude; great performance by the lead guitarist on this one, too, before the others interfere with puzzling technical riff-knots galore and formidable galloping escapades, the bass burping vociferously in the background; an exemplary shredfest again touching Shrapnel’s finest models, the leads doing the biggest damage the overall approach also recalling Coroner’s instrumental variations “Totentanz” and “Nosferatu”. The title-track relies on the bass initially, but with the versatile throat back in the game one should expect numerous vocal exploits as well although it’s the superb twists and turns and the dizzying technical spiral-like guitars that will keep the fan hooked; the latter will totally savour the monolithic mid-paced delivery sustained throughout, and the several more lyrical/balladic insertions.

A very appropriately chosen band name on all counts, technical thrash at its absolute best assisted by a manic banshee behind the mike, a bold statement of intent made during times when things still looked relatively safe from a classic metal point-of-view. Promotion to the official release stage seemed like the next logical step, but that scenario never came to pass. Instead, another demo appeared two years later, one that had captured some of the groovy/aggro “magic” of the new vogues, but combined with leftovers from their more technical adroitness of old it wasn’t such a bad listen at all. Again, this updated showing didn’t stir any particular interest, and the guys folded. The vocal talents of the “banshee” Brian Tane Chaffee later graced two more great technical thrash efforts, Unleashed Power’s full-length “Mindfailure” (1997) and the “Absorbed” EP after it, but without his high-strung, piercing tirades… all that remained with the first “slaughter”, neatly tucked away and buried, ensuring the safety of all wayward damsels and ironclad maidens searching the metal underground at present.