LP Review: "The End of Mankind" by Adversor

The End of Mankind

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away...

Well it may not have been all that long ago, and the galaxy wasn't that far away either. In fact, it's probably appropriate to say that the galaxy was just a subdivision on the other end of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area.

In the years when your friend here was discovering that Iron Maiden wasn't the heaviest band in the world, many days (and nights) were spent at my best friend's house in his basement.

We listened to Metallica. He tried to teach me how to play both the guitar and the bass and both in vain. We watched live concert videos.

It was an oasis in a chaotic time for me and even though we're no longer in contact, those times are still very special to me and have been coming up in ways lately, especially while listening to Garage Inc by Metallica that was recently acquired on vinyl....

Adversor

The thing about those days is that my friend was a bass player and no one loves hearing bass guitars like bass players....also his dad was a bass player.

Consequently, listening to hear the bass guitar become important to me, but in so much extreme(r) metal, the bass wasn't that critical. Ask Jeff Walker about that.

That's one of the things that makes Adversor interesting to me. The bass guitar is clearly audible in the mix.

It also appears that the gentleman is a fan of Cliff MF Burton as he's filling up the space, but also Robert Trujillo, because there's a bit of an Infectious Grooves thump to it.

Both in tone and timbre.

None of this would matter if the rest of the package wasn't just as good.

What turns me off of thrash metal is typically the vocals. They're either too nasal or too monotonous. What if the higher timbre of those bands could be tugged down, just a step or so, but then made a bit more guttural?

If you'd asked me this yesterday, you would probably still be waiting for an answer, but thankfully Adversor has answered it in thrash metal form....it's real and it's spectacular.

Adversor takes all the positive elements of The Big Four of Thrash Metal and combines them with a modern sensibility that creates a great listening experience.They're amazingly nostalgic all the while sounding wholly new.

Somebody tell me when this one hits vinyl. I'll be first in line to pre-order it.

Release: 3/26/18
Genre: Thrash Metal
Label:  Punishment 18 Records
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