Destruction: Born To Perish (Nuclear Blast) [Paul Hutchings]
The German thrash masters return once more with another slab of high-quality thrash metal which sits comfortably in their extensive 15 album catalogue. With the core nucleus Mike Sifringer (guitar) and lead vocalist and bassist Marcel ‘Schmier’ Schirmer joined this time around by drummer Randy Black and Swiss guitarist Damir Eskic, little else has changed since 2016’s Under Attack. Crammed full of lacerating riffs and Schmier’s distinctive Teutonic snarl, the band that formed part of the Germanic Big 4 and spearheaded the second wave of thrash with US comrades Testament, Death Angel and Sacred Reich show no sign of slowing up. The opening assault of the title track begins 45 minutes of penetrating, aggressive thrash which will always get a warm welcome from those whose first love is the pacey riff strewn metal attack. Butchered For Life has a slightly different, more relaxed feel in parts, and We Breed Evil takes the heat off with some measured solos midpoint, but otherwise this is full throttle and exactly what you would want from a band with nothing left to prove. 8/10
Unruly Child: Big Blue World (Frontiers Records) [Matt Bladen]
Formed in 1991 Unruly Child are one of those bands that squarely come under the AOR banner. They only lasted three years before splitting up in 1993, before coming back in 2010 signing to Frontiers Records with the founding trio of Marcie Free (vocals), Bruce Gowdy (guitar) and Guy Allison (keys) to release three albums before this Worlds Collide, Down The Rabbit Hole, Can't Go Home. Big Blue World is their fourth album on Frontiers and it's full of the kind of slick AOR that Unruly Child have always done very well. Marcie's vocals are still at the forefront of their sound, sounding as good as she ever has with the soulful vocals carrying tracks such as the emotional and stripped back We Will Give Up Today, the pumping Someone Else's Dream which is powered by Guy's keyboard riff. The songs on this record never really get into the hard rock sound, things stay mainly into the melodic rock bordering on pop, with a glut of ballads, though The Harder They Fall and the big riff in Down And Dirty would beg to differ. Big Blue World is another polished album from these AOR heavyweights. 7/10
David Ellefson: Sleeping Giants (THC Music) [Paul Hutchings]
The soundtrack to accompany the Megadeth bassist’s forthcoming memoir More Life With Deth, Sleeping Giants is an interesting collection of new songs, demos with F5 and a collection of other projects. The opening three tracks feature his business partner and MLWD co-author, Thom Hazaert, Alongside Hazaert, Sleeping Giants includes a multitude of guests including legendary MC Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, who shares vocals with Hazaert on the ferocious title track, which has the Megadeth stomp all over it, as does third track Hammer (Comes Down). Other guests include Mark Tremonti, Eric AK (Flotsam and Jetsam), Ken Mary (Alice Cooper, Flotsam and Jetsam), Steve Conley (Flotsam and Jetsam, F5), Ethan Brosh, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, Dave Sharpe and Opus Lawrence of Dead By Wednesday, Illias Papadakis (Memorain), Dave McClain (Machine Head, Sacred Reich) and Andy Martongelli (Altitudes and Attitude).
The electro remix of Vultures (Kristian Nairn- Hodor in Game Of Thrones no less!) is a curved ball after the raging trio which open the album, but it’s a grower and if you like a bit of gnarly industrial electronica then it will probably be your favourite track here. Other interesting tracks include a pulsing demo (If You Were God) featuring vocals by John Bush (Armored Saint/ex-Anthrax). With Bush being one of my favourite all-time vocalists this really gets the thumbs up from me and it’s a shame this was never released. There are also a chunk of demos featuring Ellefson singing as well as some tracks with vocals from David Glen Eisley (House Of Lords, Giuffria). Whilst the overall feel is a little bit cobbled together, there are some interesting songs buried in here, with the demos of particular interest. Like many compilations that use multiple guests, it’s a bit disjointed but overall if you like Megadeth and the thrash metal style of bands like Armoured Saint, then there should be enough here for you to have a gentle exploration. 7/10
Desecresy: Towards Nebulae (Xtreem Music) [Paul Hutchings]
Formed in 2009 by Tommi Grönqvist and Jarno Nurmi as a two man project, and inspired by such legendary bands as Abhorrence (Fin), Bolt Thrower, Grave, Immolation and Incantation, Desecresy stated that their aim was to make death metal “as it should be, not as it once was”. Debut release Arches Of Entropy was completed in 2010 and followed in the line of tradition Finnish death metal bands with more albums released through Xtreem Music: The Doom Skeptron (2012), Chasmic Transcendence (2014), Stoic Death (2015) and most recently 2017’s The Mortal Horizon. With the sixth album, Towards Nebulae, we find the band is now a solo project with this the second to be solely operated by Grönqvist .With a mixture of early 90s influenced brutality and atmosphere from the darker sediments of the psyche, this is 37 minutes of primitive production, down tuned guitars and a wall of devastation which would certainly scare the hell out of the neighbours. 6/10
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