I first caught this Greek band live a couple of years ago supporting Massacre and Denial Fiend. Their live presentation was something that instantly took my breath away. Having since bought their back catalogue, I was under no illusion that I wanted to review this forthcoming album.

From the opening tune ‘Bloodthirsty’ there are classic Kreator and early Slayer riffs in abundance. The production is a little beefier than their last releases, but it still holds that classic thrash metal presentation with simple hammer-on’s and pull-offs on the guitar riff front. In fact I am drawn in by their speed to some of the earlier material released by the UK’s own thrash masters Evile especially on ‘The Pestilence of Saints’. The energy is quite clear although I do kind of feel that this Thrash metal revival gets a little bit of “business as usual” with lots of these bands sounding very similar, it was a trait that happened in the 1980’s too. Having said that, there is still enough in this album to help the listener appreciate the riff-tastic tyrants that are Suicidal Angels.

‘Lies’ is very Slayer, these chaps are relying on speed rather than melody in their thrash; the tune still manages to captivate you and will provide much neck muscle tension in future listens. That would be my point, its not an instant hit in my book, it has taken a couple more listens of the album to finally draw a constructive conclusion to this release and finally “get-it” if that’s the best way to describe it. That maybe unfair, and in reality I am still blown away by the new Megadeth album, but when talking about Suicidal Angels, there is talent here, passionate fans of Destruction, Kreator and the first 2 albums of Slayer will adore this release. For me its it’s a good album, but it has not jumped out of the stereo and slapped me around the face like I was expecting it to do.

http://www.myspace.com/suicidalangelsgreece
http://www.nuclearblast.de

Paul Maddison

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