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Cripper - Hyëna review



Reviewer:
7.0

22 users:
8.05
Band: Cripper
Album: Hyëna
Release date: November 2014


01. Hyena
02. Tourniquet
03. Bloodshot Monkey Eye
04. A Dime For The Establishment
05. 7"
06. Animated Flesh
07. The Origin
08. Patterns In The Sky
09. The Jackhammer
10. Patronized
11. Pure

With thrash's innovative period long gone, the only way to judge the worth of any thrash band is the quality of songs they churn out. And whilst some of the old guys ala Testament or Death Angel can still crank out some good headbanging, riffy yet catchy tunes, most of the new school rethrash mob have proven to be stuck in neutral when it comes to song writing. Cripper seems to break that mould somewhat even if they stay safely within the confines of traditional thrash for the most part.

So what do Cripper offer to the mix on album number 4? In essence this is modern Onslaught meets Exodus with snippets of 1990s groove ala Pantera or early Machine Head. It's groovy and riffy and bounces along happily without a care in the world. Strangely for a German band, they avoid most of the trappings of Teutonic thrash.

The songwriting is quite decent by thrash standards even if it doesn't really do anything new. Each song stands on its own merits with its own little themes and quirks. It never quite reaches the standard set by Onslaught's Killing Peace in terms of catchy fury but then that doesn't appear to have been the goal. Instead the grooves just carry one along happily from riff to awesome riff. Even if the riffs aren't anything new, these guys know how to get the most out of arranging them in a very pleasing fashion.

There's not much to fault with this album. It all fits in well. The sound is modern but retains a 1990s organic vibe to it. The rhythm section is quite strong and gives the album its true pummeling grunt. Britta Görtz brings her own take on the classic thrash vocal delivery and she outdoes most of her male counterparts when it comes to spitting out the bile. Indeed she could easily replace Sy Keeler of Onslaught.

So just when yours truly was ready to give up on 2014 as a write off for thrash, Cripper come along and prove me wrong with the meaty punch in the face that is Hyëna.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 7

Written by deadone | 08.01.2015




Comments

Comments: 1   Visited by: 52 users
09.01.2015 - 14:53
Cynic Metalhead
Paisa Vich Nasha
I've met Cripper through outstanding release of "Devil Reveals". I was searching something of Black Flag and ended it up listening that beast on YouTube.

Very promising review. 8 isn't bad score and that intrigues me to check out this record soon. Loads of records are in pipeline and i hope i'll listen to this by end of this month.
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