Kin

The adjustment album campaign that was unleashed by The Black Album brought a lot of shame to the 80’s metalhood, and very little else truth be told. Amazingly, except the mentioned Metallica opus not a single other album came close to the colossal critical and commercial success excluding Pantera, of course, and mid-90’s Sepultura to an extent. Flotsam & Jetsam and Anthrax were going up that way, at least from a critical point-of-view, but I guess the whole transformation charade was quickly dismissed by the fanbase as a bad dream that wasn’t going to last long.

Regardless, it sucked in almost every 80’s metal practitioner, including the premier UK thrash metal outfit, Xentrix. The band garnered a lot of attention by choosing to cover the popular “Ghostbusters” track, but it was their truly memorable song-writing skills, the admirable level of musicianship, and the respectful nods to the Bay-Area brotherhood that catapulted them to the higher echelons in no time. They by all means reached the early-90’s which wasn’t surprising at all with the majority of the British thrash acts still fully operational, most of them having even managed to retain their classic sound. However, our leaders here had other plans about their future development, and the album reviewed here wasn’t the fierce thrashy beast anymore.

Nothing to complain, though, as the guys had decided to follow the leaders Metallica on the way to fortune and glory. Although those never became an option for them, at least this effort is one of the better attempts at less painful metamorphoses, and “The Order of Chaos” will make it easy for the band fans to recognize their idols, not without the help of Chris Astley’s unique, characteristic semi-clean vocals that assuredly lead a heavy doom-laden cavalcade with several delectable melodic hooks. “A Friend of You” refuses to speed up, and remains within the dark mid-tempo confines with a couple of more dynamic embellishments and the staple melodic tunes. “All Bleed Red” becomes more energetic and bouncy, but “No More Time” is a 7-min heavy ballad, a good atmospheric piece which aptly summarizes the pessimistic introspective mood of the album. At this stage it’s more than clear that thrash isn’t going to play a big role anymore; as a matter of fact it’s barely covered here, but the monolithic consistent approach applied should win over the listener, especially after we add “Waiting” to the equation, a fine stomper with a cool memorable chorus; and the rousing epic semi-ballad “Come Tomorrow” which even thrashes with more passion mid-way. “Release” may come as too much, though, after a few heavy weights being another balladic anthem with a sprightly dynamic finale; and “See Through You” is pure doom, a kind of expected tribute, under the circumstances, to the voluminous doom metal scene in the guys’ homeland. Nothing like the good old thrash as a finishing touch, and “Another Day” provides exactly that, blistering retro thrash recalling their past exploits ending this effort on a somewhat unexpected, but desirable high.

A high that also had its nostalgic, sad connotations having in mind that the old school was fading fast from the social consciousness, and the fans were aware that this last piece wasn’t going to set any examples to be followed by the newcomers. At the same time, it presented Xentrix as one of the first to lay down the weapons on UK soil and turn to the dark side provided that Seventh Angel, Sabbat, Cerebral Fix, D.A.M., Slammer, and the newcomers Detritus were still delivering in the familiar classic metal way. Well, the band were always aiming higher than the rest; besides, they had to follow the winds of change if they didn’t want to fall far behind their Bay-Area peers. Alas, their illusions didn’t last very long, and after a prolonged break the guys came out with “Scourge” which also introduced the Astley replacement Simon Gordon whose colder, not as expressive antics better fitted the groove, aggro tendencies that had taken over completely. Not the most dignified exit from the scene by a long shot, this scourging effort was a logical career termination; a career that was revitalized in 2006 although Astley parted ways with his comrades again in 2013. The band are alive and well, and are surely cooking something; something that should be next of kin to the trendy at the moment old school resurrection campaign.