Given Germany’s rich thrash history, it’s really surprising
that they haven’t been able to pump out new bands all that quickly. While there
are certainly new good thrash bands from Germany, it’s much more difficult to
list them off compared to countries like the US and the UK. In fact, Traitor is
one of the first I’ve come across. Released in 2012 (and re-released in 2013 by
Stormspell Records), “Thrash Command” is the band’s debut full-length, and is
sure to satisfy fans of Bay Area Thrash.
The title track of this record is the opener, and it does a mostly solid job of summing up the rest of the record: fast, predictable riffs that
are contrasted with more melodic slower moments. The vocals were a bit of a
surprise considering they’re from Germany. You would expect them to be quite
brutal, but vocalist Andreas Mozer is using a cleaner voice. He is by no means
a melodic singer, but he mostly uses a fairly high register for standard
thrash. Then, the very next song, “Brutal Exorcism” kicks in, and Mozer is able
to deliver the vicious sounds that Mille Petrozza and Tom Angelripper used to
pull off. He tends to switch between these two sounds almost at will, and it
works so well that you won’t even notice he has changed his style. The riffs are
generally pretty similar throughout: they take influence from bands like
Exodus, Testament and Metallica. There are also hints of Slayer in some of the
faster songs (the main riff of “Merciless Hate” manages to be particularly evil
despite its breakneck tempo). With that said, most of the riffs tend to involve
relentless muted downpicking with ever changing power chords and accented
notes. A major highlight on “Thrash Command” is the production. This is because
the bass is audible throughout almost every second of the record, and the
low-end really increases the heaviness of the often-used chugging riffs. On the
speedier riffs, however, having a louder bass guitar allows the guitars to use
a higher register.
Perhaps where “Thrash Command” won’t wow you is in the
fairly foreseeable songwriting. This is nothing you haven’t heard before, nor
is it something that hasn’t been better executed by other young new bands. It
is by no means monotonous like other releases, and is actually very easy to
listen to and come back to. Unfortunately, however, there are not quite as many
highlights as I had hoped for. There is the soul-crushing “Virtual Tormentor”,
where Mozer commands you to “tell [him] your secrets” with conviction. Likewise,
“F.U.A.D.” (I think you can figure out what that stands for) is a truly
hate-filled experience. The only real surprise on this album came in "Temples of Doom" where a completely old-school heavy metal guitar solo takes over the song. After that moment, however, it's back to thrashing! When all is said and done, “Thrash Command” leaves you
with a 41-minute period where you can headbang to your hearts content, just don’t
expect this record to hold up next to “Bonded By Blood” or “The New Order”.
Highlights
"Thrash Command"
"Merciless Hate"
"Virtual Tormentor"
Final Rating
3.7/5 or 74%.