Beyond Terror

Thanatos are a monument, both in their home country of The Netherlands, as outside of it. They were in early in the extreme metal game, releasing a couple of solid albums in the early 90's, but success seemed to elude them. After a hiatus, they returned with a full length in 2000, and two years later, this EP saw the light of day, featuring 3 new cuts, a re-recording of an old one, and two covers. Which sounds like a nice treat, don't you agree?

In style, Thanatos fits in well with some of the truly old school death metal bands of the 80's, finding a snug place between the likes of Death, Cancer and Massacre, but with added blastbeats. Just like those bands, Thanatos relies heavily on aggressive guitar-based song structures, betraying the influence of Dark Angel, Possessed and Slayer, throwing around solo's and lethal riffing throughout. The tracks themselves alternate between thrash-fueled velocity, double kick driven midtempo stomp and blastbeat rage, ensuring that the music flies by in a varied and especially energetic way. Everything is kept together by the aggressive vocals of founding (and sole consistent) member Stephan, who vomits up a raw-throated and vitriolic rasp, forming a cool addition to the sturdy death/thrash the band has on offer.

As mentioned, the three first cuts on this EP were at that time brand spankin' new ones, and they don't disappoint. Showcasing everything that Thanatos was known for up to that point, it's old school galore for sure. Playing is excellent, and the songs are brought with energy and conviction, exactly the way you want music like this to be performed. The same goes for "Angelic Encounters 2002 A.D.", a re-recording of the title track of their comeback album from two years prior. To keep it short, it's an improvement, for sure, because that almost eponymous album sounded like complete arse. Not that the production is completely ideal on here either, but despite the somewhat muffled sound, it hits its mark better, sounding way more focused than before. The muffled sound also hangs over the other three originals, but it's not a disaster to listen to. The guitars could've been more upfront, and the vocals perhaps a bit less, but this does it for me, for sure.

The sound quality changes on the two covers, sounding a tad more raw, and with drums that I wish had some more body to it soundwise. The band gets close to the style and spirit of Possessed in the cover of "Satan's Curse", but sounds just that bit too nice and clean on the Celtic Frost cover. I also wished that Thanatos created their own version of the legendary intro to "Into the Crypts of Rays", in place of just 'copy/pasting' the original one on the EP. If the sound would've had somewhat more bottom end to it, this could've been a total banger. Now it's just a decent cover.

A worthy addition to the discography of Thanatos for sure, this EP, too bad it gets overlooked a lot, it seems. The music is great, executed well by people who have the right mindset and pedigree to do so. A good one to seek out if thrash-fueled old school death metal is your thing.