Artist: Angelus Apatrida
Title: Clockwork
Type: Album
Label: Century Media
It would seem that the new resurgence in traditional thrash, spearheaded by such acts as America’s Lazarus AD and the UK’s own Evile has spread itself a bit further abroad, with the first release on Century Media by Spain’s Angelus Apatrida. Loosely translating as ‘Homeless Angels’, there is no doubt from the first note of the album, sung in English, or perhaps more honestly American, that this is a band that has spent many years listening to classic Bay Area Thrash, with the occasional nod to the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, a fact that they don’t try to hide in their biography, or musical style.
Album opener is the simple haunting guitar piece ‘The Manhattan Project’, set with the sort of dark echoing string work that was a staple of so many bands in the 80’s and early 90’s, from Testament to Metallica, before the full on thrash assault fires in. And when the thrash starts, it does so in classic form. ‘Blast Off’ is literally that, vocalist Guillermo Izquierdo sounding like he learnt to speak English by singing along to a young Dave Mustaine, reproducing the same semi-strangled snarl, and sounding for all the world like a long lost and rediscovered Megadeth album. This similarity extends beyond the vocals into the entire song structure, a formula that runs through track after track including title song ‘Clockwork’; twin guitar riffs, complex time changes, and blistering solos. Nowhere is the influence of Megadeth more apparent then on ‘Devil Take The Hindmost’, even the backing vocals sounding like they were contributed by Dave Ellefson. Track after track screamed of early Megadeth, ‘The Misanthropist’ and ‘Legally Brainwashed’ having the spite and venom of ‘Killing Is My Business’, a thrash attack that doesn’t let up, even infecting the album closer, a cover of Iron Maiden’s hit of yesteryear, ‘Be Quick Or Be Dead’, very much in the tradition of a certain band often mentioned in this review and their cover of ‘Anarchy in the UK.’ As a band, there is no doubt Angelus Apatrida can play their instruments with the skills needed for thrash; they are precise, complex, and above all, fast.
The band have a fair old number of dates in August and September in the upcoming ‘European Bangover 2010 tour’, visiting the UK with Skeletonwitch and Warbringer, another pair of bands riding high with this revival of classic metal away from the trendy pop punk and Emo that dominates the pages of magazines like Kerrang, and for that they are to be commended. With the current Sonisphere shows of ‘The Big Four’ stomping across Europe, Angelus Apatrida are bound to go down well, and attract a good following. What remains to be seen is if they can make their own mark. No doubt they have the skills and musicianship; what they need to do now is to find their own style to carry them through the years, especially when compared to originals of the genre like Exodus, Overkill, and Testament, all of whom are continuing to produce stunning new albums and touring with not just skill and renewed energy, but decades of experience that comes out in every show.
http://www.myspace.com/angelusapatrida
http://www.angelusapatrida.com
