Reviews written by: Dave Ingram Jr.

Reviews

Sodom - Sacred Warpath

While 2010's magnificent In War And Pieces was as close to perfection as Sodom will ever get, last year's Epitome of Torture was a crushing letdown; a failed attempt to get back to the 'thrash' sound from Agent Orange and Persecution Mania, only without the quality songwriting. It says something when the two bonus tracks that you've recorded are su...

13/12/2014

Dingram's 2014 Summary

T-T-T-TRADITION BREAKERRRR! I actually considered dropping this year's overview after I realised that it would consist almost exclusively of British thrash metal releases, and after the hassle I got from the internet trolls last year, it wouldn't be worth the effort. However, after posting a heavily abridged list on Facebook, people ended up com...

13/12/2014

Killer Hurts - Killer Hurts

I've been putting off reviews for a while because I started a new job and spend all of my time either stacking shelves or sleeping, so I finally find the time to sit down and go over some of the releases I've been sent and... more thrash. I've probably listened to more thrash this year alone than I did in my teenage years, though while it may get e...

15/11/2014

Incinery - Dead, Bound, And Buried

Incinery are one of those thrash bands whose seemingly limitless appeal never really managed to sink it's hooks into my nuts as easily as the rest of the UK thrash scene. I've always enjoyed them when I've seen them live (in fact, I think my current band actually played with Incinery for our first show) but their success has always been somewhat pe...

22/10/2014

Exodus - Blood In, Blood Out

I think that many of us can agree that Exodus haven't been very good since Steve Souza left the band. His replacement, Rob Dukes, certainly wasn't an outright terrible vocalist by any stretch of the imagination, but he just didn't feel right for the band - not helped by the fact that Exodus' songwriting quality fluctuated so violently from song to...

10/10/2014

Terror Firma - Demo-lition

You know what, sometimes it's the simple things in life that make it worth living- such as checking my inbox and going through all of the albums I've been sent, only to come across something so hilariously terrible that it makes Super Collider look like Mental Vortex. Yes, it's really happened; I've actually been sent something so bad that even Sup...

10/10/2014

Forneus - In The Name Of Khaos

I quite liked Forneus' contributions to the In Satan's Honour split last year. Despite having some really long songs, it was solid, atmospheric black metal with some nice touches of death metal thrown in for good measure; not too brutal, but not overtly grim and frostbitten either. It was neat, so when their drummer recently mentioned that they'd h...

04/10/2014

Desolator - Accelerator

I've always had some sort of bizarre fondness for Desolator. Despite being unoriginal, sloppy, and so cringingly 'thrash' that they've occasionally come across as more of a Brass Eye-style parody of the genre, I still find something alluring about them. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for their raw energy, and I'm old fashioned enough that I feel the nee...

25/09/2014

Exxxekutioner - Fear The Priest

Exxxekutioner, lifelong holders of the "most awkward band name I've ever typed" title, didn't quite manage to hit the mark with their first demo last year. The music was solid and lovingly crafted, but it was ultimately let down by the fact that it was recorded on a cassette deck, and as such bore production (I use that word loosely) so bad that it...

10/08/2014

Necrodeath - The 7 Deadly Sins

Necrodeath have always sat a bit strangely with me. I really enjoyed their second album, 1989's Fragments of Insanity, but the rest of their catalogue was rather hit-and-miss for me... maybe it was because they couldn't make their minds up as to what genre they wanted to fit into, having flirted with groove, death metal, black metal and thrash exte...

27/05/2014

Kremated - Three Minute Warning

I've been harping on about modern thrash metal bands being a bunch of clueless tossers lately. A lot. My main complaint has been directed at all of the wanna-be clone bastards that think that listening to Exodus and Metallica forever will unveil the secrets to creating some of the best music the genre will ever have to offer, when matter-of-factly,...

25/05/2014

Prong - Ruining Lives

There's no need for me to bullshit my way around the fact that I bloody love Prong. If my review for their previous album is anything to go by, they're pretty much <i>the</i> defining example when it comes to composing music that's an amalgamation of various styles and influences without making it sound like a whirlwind of shit that was written by...

23/04/2014