Album Review: "Other Side of Darkness" by Deathblow

Other Side of Darkness

I remember a time when Thrash Metal was dead.

It was dead after I'd gotten into it, for the most part. I got into the genre late. I was only like 8 when it was brand new after the bands in the Big Four took the NWOBHM and morphed it into something new.

In the early 90's, it was in its death throes, pun intended.

At that time only Slayer out of the Big Four was anything remotely like they'd been at the genesis, well, at least after they'd found their voice.

In the 90's, it was all death metal and such. In that time, Slayer was often referred to as death metal even... Long story short, it's great to see that there's a new generation of thrash metal or are we on the second gen of the thrash revival?

Deathblow

Born in Salt Lake City, UT.

Doesn't that just seem like somewhere that would scream for a rebellion?

If there's an audience looking for one, here's a band that's ready to give it to them.

Their music fast and angry.

This band has cobbled together probably the best tone outside of Slayer's South of Heaven. The guitars, the bass, the drums, not only do they sound amazing, they mixed this album to perfection.

There can be no complaints about a shoddy recording here.

The vocal stylings are somewhere between Slayer's Tom Araya and Antrhax's Joey Belladonna. It's a great mixture.

The riffs are played at breakneck pace and stop on dime into an arpeggio or a melodic break. Anyone looking for over the top shreds (like me) will be a touch disappointed, but not too  much. The solos are a bit on the simplistic side relying on the band's keen sense of melody rather than fretboard acrobatics.

With anger, precision, and production, Deathblow has created an album that anyone who claims to even remotely like thrash should buy today.

Release: 4/21/15
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label: DIY
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