/speed\kill/hate\ ~ Acts Of Insanity
Escape Music
SKH uses the label "East Coast Thrash" for a reason. Along with having several members of Overkill in the lineup, including founder David Linske on guitars, drummer Tim Mallore and bassist Derek Tailer joining fellow founder Mario Frasca on vocals, SKH brings thrash back to the present.
While there is plenty of a "newer" style involved, (as you'll see in the review to follow) there is enough of that "old-school" stylings to make any fan of the genre as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve.
Let's get on with it....
The first song on the disc, "Walls Of Hate", starts right off with a very Slayer-like sounding guitar crunch that kicks this album off right.
The growling vocals are more in the vein of Pantera era Phil Anselmo, which is also a nice relief from many of the newer vocalists who tend to sound as if someone is standing on his balls. This is simply a refreshing, brutal delivery.
The ass kicking continues seemlessly into "Setting Me Off", which also speeds things up a bit. The drums and vocals set the tone in a more rapid fire delivery while the guitarwork, again, reminds me of something that could be an extension of the "Reign In Blood" album. Definitely no complaints here about that, mind you.
"Violence Breeds" gets a little more into a newer sound. By that I mean the music is a more steady paced crunch while the vocals get an octive deeper with more strain.
It is still extremely entertaining and the fine guitar solo lets everyone know that this is NOT just another new band to saturate the market.
This particular theme continues on through "Slay The Enemy", but with more pace changes involved which adds a little flair.
"Won't See Fear" starts up with a very cool old school thrash thudding sound that always brings a smile to my face. Even the most simple, steady, quickly repeated "chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk-chunk" of heavy guitars is one of the most beautiful sounds in music. Old style with a newer twist is displayed with this song.
"Face The Pain" basically sounds like Pantera covering an old Anthrax song. I know that may take too much imagination to figure out, but it's how I hear it. Very fast, with "Among The Living" type vocal delivery.
"Revelation At War (R.A.W.)" is seventh on the album and goes more along the lines of "Violence Breeds", although some more originality is thrown into the sound, which keeps things very entertaining.
This rolls on into "Not For Me", which has some Hatebreed style to it as far as the barking vocals with more strain added. It's just MUCH better than Hatebreed could ever do.
The album ends with "Repent". This beauty brings back the little used term of "Speed Metal". That thrash sound at a higher tempo, ala Nuclear Assault. There are moments when the pace is slowed for effect, but the main meat of this song is like a wonderful blast to the past.
As you can see, I truly enjoyed this album. With the exception of some compilation discs, I've never before taken the time (or mostly effort) to mention every song unless it was a track listing. I've liked plenty of the others, but this one hit me differently. The moment I put it on for the first time, I knew that I'd landed a gem.
