I wanted to go for something truly grim and frostbitten to reflect the recent-ish snow fall, but the only band that would have been truly fitting were Immortal, the true masters of nebular frost. However, I want to keep this blog to one post per band and I think I should save Immortal for the release of their new album later in the year, plus the snow has long since gone.
Stylistically, this is similar ground to my last post, however this week’s slate of self-proclaimed ‘Unholy Thrash Metal’ comes courtesy of Germany’s Nocturnal. This track is from 2008’s Unholy Ancient War, a split with Sweden’s Pagan Rites. I listened to this for the first time the other night after a healthy dosage of bongs and was fully convinced it was the greatest thrash I’d ever heard. Bongs are definitely a necessity for me when listening to new music; if it sounds amazing when you’re lean it’s almost a given it still will the next morning. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.
This is again the essence of thrash metal with the more traditional thrash shrieking replaced with more black metal-style vocals. The riffs are insane, nodding of course to Slayer and reminiscent even of the great Exodus. I must admit I was a bit dubious about this thrash revival at first but bands like Nocturnal, Deathhammer and Aura Noir have breathed fresh life into a genre which had reached total over-saturation after its explosion in the late 90s.
I’m not sure what the spoken German intro is all about – seems to be about cannibalism and space or something, I dunno, I don’t speak German but hopefully I’m right.
Listen:
Nocturnal: “Rise Of The Undead”
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February 25th, 2009 @ 14:19
