Pillar

They're from Poland, they play kind of thrash metal, and their first album was called 'Ruiny'. That's all I can tell you. The reason I have this single is precisely the opposite reason I don't have any of their other material - it's cheap and easy to find. In fact it's free and can be found on the band's website, which is very generous. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if I can be quite so generous in return. 'Pillar' isn't a bad release particularly, it's just fairly unremarkable, with quite a modern sound that suggests that these guys spent at least as much time listening to the late 90s and early 00s modern metal bands as they spent listening to Metallica and Overkill in the 80s.

The reason I say it's kind of thrash is because some of the drumming and particularly the lead guitars remind me of someone like Testament or indeed Overkill, after they had broadened out their sound around the turn of the century. The rhythm guitars and vocals are much closer to groove and even nu metal at times, with a fairly slow and thick sound that uses plenty of choppy riffing and squeaks of feedback, plus a singer that sounds oddly like a more powerful but less angry Max Cavalera. The bass is a little too slappy to turn anything into real momentum, but the leads are the most classic and most exciting thing about the songs.

Of the two songs, there isn't a great deal to separate them, though 'Pillar' is marginally more catchy and has more lead guitar, which is more technical than the other instruments and gives a pleasant flavour. I might be tempted to check these guys out if I saw their album in the shop or their van rolled into town, but I'm not going to search too hard.