Sunday, May 5, 2013

Rancor - Dark Future



While I’m sure Spain has a great thrash scene, I’ve only ever really come across two bands from the country: Angelus Apatrida, and Rancor. Based on my prior experience with Angelus Apatrida, expectations were pretty high for Rancor (especially when you consider the awesome name and killer album art!). Luckily, these guys do not disappoint at all. While the music is perhaps the most straightforward thrash in existence, Rancor has a few ways of keeping things interesting throughout the record.

The best place to start would be the vocals of Dani López. He has a unique tone to his singing. While he does use shouts often, he is definitely also has the melodic abilities needed to switch things up. One immediate comparison that came to mind is to Hyades; not because of the sound of his vocals, but just because of how much character they have. The rest of the band unfortunately doesn’t stand out as much, but they do their best to avoid making the songwriting too samey. For one thing, there is certainly a lot of thrashing, but there are also slower, heavier moments as well. The beginning of “The Last Drop of Blood” sets the stage with these brooding riffs before the high-speed thrashing kicks in for the verse.  At times, things can get quite melodic (think Iron Maiden), such as in "Deaf People". In addition, the riffs can get more technical than a simple 4/4 thrash riff (see the opening of “Addicted To Hate” for one example). Much like many new thrash bands, there are the occasional blast beats, but they are used to mix things up, rather than for simply upping the speed of the drumming. The lead guitars and bass are both unspectacular, but they get the job done. “Dark Future” is simply one of those albums that you don’t need to think too much about the performances, and can enjoy the thrashing nature of the music.

Rancor’sDark Future” is a slab of modern thrash that is definitely worth hearing. While it definitely sounds like a band that just wants to pay homage to their idols, they do so with more conviction than some of their contemporaries. Don’t miss out on this if you are a huge thrash fan! 

 Be sure to check out and like Rancor on Facebook!

Highlights
"The Last Drop of Blood"
"Addicted To Hate"
"There's No Love"

Final Rating
3.9/5 or 78%. 

Written by Scott