Band:	Mantic Ritual
Album:	Executioner
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	August 18, 2007
Guest review by:	Doc G.

01. One By One
02. Executioner
03. Black Tar Sin
04. Death And Destruction
05. Murdered To Death
06. Souls
07. Panic
08. Double The Blood
09. Blackout [2009 re-release bonus]
10. Thrashatonement
11. By The Cemetary [2009 re-release bonus]
12. Next Attack

Whoever said kids these days didn't appreciate the classics? Well, they certainly can't say that after hearing the debut of this very young - yet very talented band called Mantic Ritual (though this particular album was released under their previous name; Meltdown).

The first wonderful aspect you'll realize about this album is the stripped-down, no frills or gimmicks approach to the song writing. Everything down to the production seemed to be well thought-out giving it a very genuine 80's style thrash sound, easily comparable to Metallica's "Kill 'Em All". So what about the sound itself? Well, the guitar work is a nice mix of early Slayer and Metallica, with a slightly higher skill level. Vocals sound like a more out-of-control young James Hetfield. All this topped off with fairly thin (though well mixed) production.

Unfortunately this 80's worship does seem to hold back the music quite a bit. Though there are a small handful of new & unique riffs scattered throughout the album, a good chunk of the time you will get the " I've heard this before" syndrome. Compared to other bands of this uprising of old-school thrash bands that are coming out, I feel Mantic Ritual definitely have much more ability, but need to diversify their song writing with future releases in order for them to stand out in a genre that is slowly becoming more and more watered-down. Alas this is only a debut - a very promising one at that, and it's not entirely unheard of for a band to emulate their idols before branching out and experimenting with their ability, which makes this a band to definitely watch out for in the future.

All in all this is a fun little album showing thrash the way it was meant to sound; undiluted, fast, out-of-control and razor sharp. If you can get your head around the lack of significant originality this will surely be a gem to add to the collection.