This is these Dutch thrashers second album, part of a trilogy which in this case deals with subjects concerning the past and present, which is apparently meant to raise questions about the future of our planet.

From the opening track ‘Blinded By Chauvinism’ there’s clear homage to early Slayer pre-‘Reign in Blood’ with plenty of high pitched screams and fast tantric riffing as is the popular approach of recent times. For a 3-piece, the sound is pretty good on a full sound system. Of the first few tracks you get an expected thrash approach, although when you get deeper into the release beyond ‘Stature of Liberty’ then the quality rapidly increases. But I must stress that’s that is not to say earlier tracks are inferior, just the latter ones have a touch more bit and are expanded more so with a fuller arrangement. The mixing was handled by Dennis Koehne who has worked with the likes of Sodom, Exhumer and a few others.

The last two songs, ‘Megalomania’ and ‘The King of Kings’ really marks a great level of thrash, with their concept of freedom playing out and questioning whether we are actually free. All in all, a respectable release that will sit well with true thrashers as it is simple and effective, but not quite yet standing head and shoulders above the crowd musically.

(7/10 Paul Maddison)

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https://distillator.bandcamp.com/album/summoning-the-malicious-2017