Not the first country that springs to mind when you think of thrash metal is it? I mean yeah King Diamond is a legend and Artillery are a fine band ……. and some Napster suing dwarf drummer from Denmark did quite well for himself but it’s not a hot bed of thrash excellence is it? Or maybe it is because Roarback have just released the best thrash metal album I’ve heard in ages with ‘Echoes Of Pain’.
Roarback were formed in 2011 and put out their debut release, the ‘Face The Sun’ EP in 2012. This, their debut album consists of ten tracks of mayhemic, death tinged classic thrash. Think Whiplash, early Dark Angel, Indestructible Noise Command and early Slayer with what sounds like Peter from Vader doing the vocals and you won’t go far wrong. And let me tell you, this is very much my cup of tea!
The songs are frantic, very organic sounding yet really well produced – the riffing and lead work of Andreas Rohde and Andreas Dixo is precise and really captures the late 80’s & early 90’s thrash vibe flawlessly. It really put a smile on my face. Likewise the brutal but clear vocal performance of Dennis Ullehus suits the material perfectly.
Stand out tracks for me are ‘Face The Sun’ with it’s Reign In Blood era Slayer worshiping intro and ‘Warmachine’ with it’s sure to be pit inducing chugging main riff. Love it!
What’s more surprising, given how well crafted and mature the album sounds is that not one of the band was over 20 years old when it was recorded.
Now we hit 2014 and there’s old 80’s thrash acts reforming left right and centre presumably with cash as the main motivation, when you read the interviews with these bands and they say ‘we’re gonna show the young pretenders how it’s done’ or whatever bullshit spews forth from these long retired has beens, do yourself a favour – put on ‘Echoes Of Pain’…… these lads may be young, but they ain’t pretending!
(8.5/10 Mark Eve)
23/01/2014 at 12:40 pm
I totally agree.. These guys are gonna be the new black !!