Every metalhead needs a bit of thrash in their lives. It reminds you that your heart can still pump and your head can still bang even if like me you're old enough to remember A World Without Thrash.
Featuring Steffan Schulze of Antares Predator fame, Harm are a tight three piece and this, Demonic Alliance, their sophomore outing after five years of other project activity.
Their sound, opening with 'The Line Between', is classic pounding thrash; choppy riffs and fast snaking lead breaks pushed on by great roaring vocals. It gallops and clatters along like a freight train, superbly tight and bristling with spike stud attitude that shakes the dust from the walls. It a good opening, a 'we mean business' one and I have hopes.
Pausing only for a chainsaw interlude (and where would thrash be without chainsaws?), they career into the second song 'Demon'. There is a hefty dose of one of Thrash's twin offspring to their armoury; a death metal steel to the rhythmic pounding from drum and bass. It's just following the musical bloodline back and forth of course but it fills out the sound nicely. And this is a full on, ballsy sound and band, no mistake.
You see Harm are one of those bands you can't help but sneakingly admire: Individually clearly talented, coming together in a solidly welded unit with absolutely no fat to trim. Commitment is in every pore even if they hadn't named the last track 'Fuck The Fame'. This is all good and makes them certainly worth a spin or two of any metal fans' time and far better than many of the recent thrash brigade.
The problem I have here is that for all that I just can't get excited after the first couple of songs and I really wanted to. On tracks like 'New Brutal vitality' or 'The Eradication Of The Individual' they hammer, pound and thrash out tracks of almost flawless belligerence but nothing quite gets under my skin. The pace is pretty uniform; fast and hard but uniform. The tempo changes but never surprises. Somewhere I always get lost and drift and nothing snags me until that closing song rattles my cage with perhaps the most 80s sounding riff on show, but also the most memorable one. Basically save for that closing ripper and the guitar flourishes on that mission statement I find it a bit samey to be honest.
For me thrash needs as many hooks as a chainsaw has teeth, and the ability to bite as deep and I just couldn't find it here. I should love this but its simply OK for me, enjoyable at the time but not what I'd pick out in a thrash mood. Only 'Fuck The Fame' stays with me longer than the moment.
Sorry guys. It could just be me: Everything is here on the surface but it just won't claw its way inside.
Still if you like your thrash with a healthy dose of Death Metal power then absolutely check them out because they have real class. If you need a little incentive then a DVD is included in this nicely packaged album (promo vids, making of, some pics, that kind of thing) nicely rounding it out.
Go and prove me wrong.
http://www.myspace.com/harmmetal
http://www.harmofnorway.com/
Gizmo
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