Band:	In Malice's Wake
Album:	Eternal Nightfall
Style:	Thrash metal
Release date:	November 2008

01. Intro
02. Pay The Price
03. Eternal Nightfall
04. Bitter Demise
05. To Run With The Darkness...
06. Man-Made Death
07. The Path Less Travelled
08. As Dusk Covers Day...
09. Weakness In Numbers
10. Where Silence Hides
11. Mental Disarray

Style: Thrash Metal
Country: Australia
Label: Self-Released
Length: 45:39
Recorded: 2008

Line-up:
Shaun Farrugia - guitars, vocals
Mark Farrugia - drums
Jamie Walker-Preece - bass
Dave Graham - guitars


In my opinion (and so it seems I'm not alone) 2008 was rather a good year for Thrash. So when this year In Malice's Wake's debut album "Eternal Nightfall" came into my possession I wondered whether they'd follow the trend of good 2008 albums. The "nebular" sounding intro was no indication (I had no idea what was to come after that) but the intro was short lived so the better signal was when "Pay The Price" started. It begins with hooking guitars, slow pounding crash cymbals and war-march snare drumming. It reminded me of the way Testament's new "The Formation Of Damnation" starts; slower to build up but heavy solid shreds to put a grin on any Thrasher's face.

Thankfully too Eternal Nightfall's promising start doesn't set the listener up for harder disappointment. With each track you really won't stop nodding your head; In Malice's Wake have performed Thrash the way it should be (or perhaps in a good way). The musicians themselves are all highly talented; Mark Farrugia for example matches the heavy and technical guitar-work with fast and just as catchy drumming but also noticeably good cymbal work (blast beats with fast smashes on the cymbals for example sound great).

I only mentioned the guitar-work briefly but damn, In Malice's Wake have learnt a thing or two from the Thrash giants of old; every song is laden with solid heavy riffing and populated reasonably heavily with catchy solos all done at varying speeds (often at breakneck!). More often than not you'll hear ultra fast shredding and sometimes even quick strumming for slower tempo tracks. Eternal Nightfall is basically very good hangbanging music thanks in part to the solid guitar work.

One aspect of the album that I'm not sure is a downside or not is the vocals. They're a Sepultura-esque growl; somewhere between a Death Metal growl and rough Thrash Metal vocals. What I do like about them is that Shaun Farrugia puts a lot of effort in to them. They're shouted forth with force. On the other hand, Eternal Nightfall does exhibit more melodic passages from time to time and it makes me wonder whether such forceful growls fit quite so perfectly. After losing count of the number of spins this album has been given I'm still not sure!

When you think about all the positives of Eternal Nightfall though the negatives don't seem to matter, the album is a great debut and a great piece of hard Thrash. Hopefully In Malice's Wake can help put some life into the Australian Thrash Metal scene!