It takes some sense of humour to name your band Virgin Snatch; one has to think of the type of juveniles that snigger when the word intercourse is mentioned on the news, but whoever said metal had to be serious? Virgin Snatch (snigger) are now on album number four and if you’re not familiar with them then perhaps a good selling point would be that Marcin "Novy" Nowak (ex. Vader, Behemoth) and Jacek Hiro (ex. Decapitated) are in the band on bass and guitar respectively. That might give you an idea what to expect from this Polish band but while they do bring a certain element of death metal to the table expect it ingrained within a Bay Area mould.
From the opening track ‘Act Of Grace’ it’s clear where this album is heading and you can expect strong thrash riffs a-plenty and a sound that simply launches full speed ahead. The bass sounds particularly heavy and has a real beefiness to it that refuses to hide in the background and contributes to an overall high-voltage power that booms out of the speakers. It’s obvious that while this is going to undoubtedly appeal to fans of Testament and Exodus as their press release states, the band draw from a diverse pool of influence and is no mere copycat generic thrash act. ‘Through Fight We Grow’ begins with that classic thrash instrumental intro which is a nice touch.
The vocals are particularly diverse with Lukasz "Zielony" Zielinski’s output ranging quite drastically. At one end he lets rip with soaring clean vocals that have rather a dramatic flavour and remind a little of John K of Biomechanical while he can lower his voice with just as much conviction giving it the tough-guy hardcore growls. ‘Daniel The Jack’ has that blunt Hatebreed guitar sound which rolls out into an atmospheric chorus. If you’re expecting something ironically retro then you won’t find it here as the sound is quite modern and seems to have taken a leaf out of the Pantera book of inspiration.
Like many albums that carry such diverse inspiration, it’s not going to be for everyone. I can see the high pitched vocals going down like lead with those with a complete aversion to power metal, while the thrash purists will undoubtedly hate the modern touches…I could go on. It’s not the greatest album I’ve heard all year (and bear in mind we’ve only had two months of it thus far!!) and despite all its variation I find that some of the tracks kind of blend into one. Still, it’s not a bad album and if you like your thrash sounding up-to date and a little unusual then check this out.
http://www.virginsnatch.net/
