Artist: Morbid Carnage
Title: Night Assassins
Type: Album
Label: Pulverised Records

Hungary appears to be home to the largest amount of bands of whom I have never heard. While I don’t doubt there are some artists over there worth discovering, as a geographical location it’s not one that would instantly spring to mind when I hear the phrase thrash metal. Morbid Carnage is certainly a new band to these ears, and not surprisingly as this is their first full-length release with only one split with fellow Hungarians Concrete to their name. With names like Blasphemy (vocals) and Churchburner (guitar), if I didn’t know better I’d expect something much more blackened in sound and as far as thrash metal goes, well, let’s just say this would probably scare the crap out of any baseball cap and hi-top sneaker wearing bandwagon jumpers who think thrash begins and ends with the party-friendly sounds of Municipal Waste.

‘Warlust’ gets pounding straight in with a thundering bassline, furious drums and sharp, angry riffing. It’s clear that Morbid Carnage is definitely lusting for war and ready to show no mercy and tear you a new one. They certainly can’t be accused of having a sound that is thin or lacking as this is heavy and aggressive as fuck and delivers one crushing blow after another with no messing about in between. ‘Slaughtering’ comes in at a pace that is not too fast or too slow but gives the impression that they mean business. It has a really dark, sinister tone to it and almost a deathly leaning that has me thinking of early Sepultura.

There’s an instant, blazing guitar solo that hurries in on ‘Deviant’ at a frenzied pace, skitting about over a powerful wall of sound. Speed is high up the agenda, which is obvious when you hear the fast and furious riffage on ‘Funeral Pyre’. The gang chants here and on ‘Night Assassin’ have that punk delivery to them and suit the music well. Vocals do take some getting used to; they are pretty raw and kind of barked out in what I’d describe as a cross between Mille Petrozza and John Tardy. At just under 40 minutes in length this doesn’t overstay its welcome. There’s nothing fancy about it, and nothing particularly new either but these seven tracks are catchy and aggressive and just make you want to bang your head – what more do you want?

http://www.myspace.com/morbidcarnage

Luci Herbert

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