I was kind of expecting Drunkard to be a semi-Tankard tribute band to be honest, thanks to the name. It turns out that this band of miscreants are a Greek outfit with a penchant for good, hard thrash in the modern vein… not even a sniff of the ‘Empty Tankard’ to be had!
‘Like Sin Explode’ is a self-assured album, perhaps owing more to the Swedish school of death / thrash cross over than to the Germanic brands of thrash that their name may suggest. With a furious guitar and (particularly drum) attack, this has much more in common with the likes of Carnal Forge or The Crown – particularly on the incendiary opening track ‘Kiss of Mayhem’ than to the likes of Kreator or Sodom. Guitar wise, there are plenty of scything riffs to keep even the most attention deficit disordered of rivet-heads happy, with the odd curve-ball time change to keep things a little more interesting than many of their peers. The over all sound is much deeper, and often darker than the run-of-the mill death thrashers out there, and the vocal delivery, courtesy of bass-slinging nutter Sawas are guttural and downright unpleasant – just what the doctor ordered, really. Elsewhere, the real star of the piece is drummer Sakis, who smashes his kit like he really hates it. From relentless pseudo-pounding to more considered, almost cerebral skin-bashing as with the slow-burning ‘My Nomad Wings’, he shows some serious drumming skills.
The production here is lead heavy and still retains clarity though also retaining the power and attack of the music. At ten tracks, this is also just about the right length – each track being nicely honed and pointed, never wandering too far from the head-down thrashing blue print, but none the less with plenty of dynamics to keep things from becoming monotonously one dimensional. Oh, and as a nice touch, if you wander off down to their myspace page there’s plenty of live footage available, including a rather storming version of The Crown classic cut ‘Total Satan’. Drunkard then – more infectious than Swine Flu, though regrettably less likely to make the front page of the Daily Mail. There’s no justice in this world.
http://www.myspace.com/drunkardband
