The Best Thrash / Speed Metal Album - Metal Storm Awards 2023
A black cloud -
Nube Negra - rolls in from Chile, rewarding open-minded listeners with thrash that's not only extremely fast and fun, but also very innovative and creative.
Demoniac (CHL) check all the genre's boxes with their rapid-fire riffs, pleasant bass lines, and hyper energetic guitar solos. Yet, what makes the Chilean quartet stand out is its willingness to experiment and push the boundaries of the well-established thrash style. Thanks to
Demoniac (CHL), you can hear how surprisingly well clarinets, accordions, and a Moog synthesizer work while accompanying energetic thrash.
¡Buen provecho!
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While the void left by Riley Gale cannot be filled,
Enforced do an excellent job of picking up the crossover thrash mantle vacated by
Power Trip and carrying it on to further heights.
War Remains is a powerful and aggressive album that doesn't lose sight of the groove in the blur of audio armageddon. Jumping between hardcore and thrash with ease, each track shifts gears like a tank plowing through walls, leaving only rubble and your hearing in its wake.
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Exmortus's latest full-length offer,
Necrophony, is an impressive addition to their discography, offering a blend of technical death/thrash metal with classic heavy metal influences. It's a demanding yet very accessible listen, with an emphasis on intricate riffing and neoclassical guitar licks. Every solo sounds as if crafted to confirm the validity of the famous Malmsteen phrase, “How can less be more?
More is more”. The songs are fast, catchy, and packed with frantic energy, with a modern production that doesn’t sound overly polished or sterile. The album brings together Teutonic thrash and Yngwie, and it is quite a refreshing take on the thrash genre.
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Fast, technical, progressive thrash hardcore bursting with creativity. Sounds cool, huh? Fueled by aggressive energy,
Hellix showcase their musical virtuosity in the form of short, unexpected bursts of fast, technical guitar work. These musicians definitely are full of ideas, and, as a result, their songs seem to be overflowing with a multitude of different riffs and melodies. Taking progressive thrash as a basis,
Hellix end up defining a quite unique mix of their own by incorporating hardcore vocals and the experimental usage of synth melodies. A rising star of creativity from the land of the rising sun. Welcome to
Hellix.
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Witches? Check. Frenzied guitars? Check. Mosh-ready riffs and pit-made anthems? Check and check.
Hellripper throw all bar the kitchen sink at their third and thus far most accomplished album. Stretching their wings beyond the limitations that blackened thrash can impose,
Warlocks Grim & Withered Hags pushes the genre to its limits without losing sight of what makes it so compelling and powerful to begin with.
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For anyone who was hoping for a thrashy concept album based on the 1979 classic action film
The Warriors,
Necropanther have answered the ever-living snot out of your prayers:
Betrayal is the latest in their line of pop culture revues, throwing in a little bit of the film's ultimate source material (the
Anabasis of Xenophon) for good measure. For a full-speed asphalt-ripper that tears out like a vanguard of motorcycles,
Betrayal isn't afraid to show its death metal influences (and its
melodic death metal influences at that); it keeps its razor-leanness and punk grounding in plain view while layering on guitar harmonies and working its percussive muscles. If you're looking for a snarly, gnarly deathly thrash album full of hot rockin' and
Dethklokkin'...
you can dig it.
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Overkill’s scorched-earth policy is doing them wonders as they continue to age in the opposite direction: the New Jersey quintet’s 20th album is also its sixth consecutive Metal Storm Award nomination, continuing a renaissance that is even longer than their naissance. Bobby Blitz shrieks like 50 bats out of 50 hells, as if daring time to open its mouth and suggest that he shouldn’t have this much horsepower in his fifth decade of screaming bloody murder. D.D. Verni’s bass registers so high on the Richter scale that the state of California has to put out an earthquake advisory as soon as he crosses the Mississippi River. Dave Linsk and Derek Tailer are packing more melody than usual in their riffs, making for an album as catchy as it is heavy, and Jason Bittner slugs his kit like it owes him money.
Scorched is more than more of the same: it’s proof that the only band that can keep pace with
Overkill is
Overkill.
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The reunion record you didn't know you wanted,
Sadus are out for blood and they'll be damned if they don't get it. Balancing technicality with unfiltered thrash glory,
Sadus show that age and time are irrelevant in the face of talent and skill. Without missing a beat,
Sadus pull everyone back to their glory days without feeling derivative or like a pale imitation of themselves.
The Shadow Inside will see listeners dragged back to the 1980s, and you'd better bet you'll be kicking and screaming as you mosh.
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Terminalist, the self-proclaimed "hyperthrashers", convey heavy topics on current-day war and strife in an overwhelming yet immensely enjoyable musical manner. Their breakneck riffing exudes controlled chaos like a bullet train that's about to derail, while the pummeling percussion resembles a barrage of missiles. Taking inspiration from both progressive metal and black metal, the band showcase their ability to create both catchy melodies and grand, captivating soundscapes. With fast, complex, yet extremely engaging songwriting and a stellar performance,
Terminalist prove once again that they are one of the best new bands in the thrash metal scene.
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The Greek duo
Venus are the newest and most promising addition to the
Vektor-inspired wave of progressive, technical, sci-fi thrash metal. The two musicians offer two distinct vocal styles, evoking a miasma of sensations associated with the cosmos: dread, fear, but also beauty and awe-inspiring majesty. But, on the instrumental front, they are just as mesmerizing with their fast-paced yet brilliantly melodic riffs. On a journey beyond time and space,
Venus’s debut full-length album offers one of the most enjoyable thrash records of the year, delivering intelligent, complex, and entertaining musicianship that's bound to ensnare any modern thrash fan.
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