Amken – Theater of the Absurd

“Theater of the Absurd” is the debut full-length from Greek thrash band Amken. The band made a relatively big splash with their “Adrenaline Shot” EP, and has returned with 8 tracks of blistering, uncompromising thrash metal. From start to finish, this album shows an uncanny ability to pump out riff after riff that will induce immediate headbanging. The band’s approach is fairly typical, as Exodus-inspired riffs can be found constantly throughout the record. The singing is similarly in vein of Paul Baloff’s style of yelling your guts out. Amken’s vocalist is slightly harsher, almost resembling Mille Petrozza at times. He doesn’t have a particularly noticeable accent, instead sounding like a typical thrash vocalist.

The band knew what they did well on this record as they kicked things off with “Shattered Sanity”, which is the best song on the album. It feels like the entire song is building until the closing chorus, which is built for screaming along to. Another highlight is “Soul’s Crypt”, which features a wicked, proper thrash breakdown riff. With that said, most of the songs have something to enjoy, even when they’re not particularly unique. The title track, for example, has a pretty catchy chorus, where things slow down a bit and get slightly more atmospheric due to a well-placed lead. It also helps that the bass is audible all throughout the record.

The only song that does feel a little more unique is “Obedient Dogs”, and that is primarily because the song starts out heavier and slower than the remainder of the album. It ends up thrashing just as fast and as hard as anything else Amken has put out. While “Theater of the Absurd” as a whole isn’t too original, it is able to fulfill all of your thrash needs more than adequately. This means that if you’re not sold on newer thrash bands, Amken won’t convince you, but if you worship this stuff like I do, they’re more than likely to get the pit started!

Be sure to check out and like Amken on Facebook!

Highlights

"Shattered Sanity"

"Soul's Crypt"

Final Rating

4.1/5 or 82%. 

Written by Scott

Nucleus – Sentient

2016 seems to be the year that sci-fi is absolutely exploding in metal. Sure, it’s been done before, but now everybody is doing it. For that reason, it is only appropriate that one of the best sci-fi death metal bands, Nucleus, is finally releasing their debut on Unspeakable Axe Records. This album shows the band evolving and improving from their first two EPs, culminating in a wicked, twisted death metal group. Twisted is the key word because the riffs on this album are weird. Much in the same way that Immolation uses strange tons of dissonance, chromatics, and pinch harmonics (with “Cantos” featuring the most potent pinch harmonic), Nucleus also adopts these wilder sounds.

The general approach to the rest of the band’s sound will be familiar to fans of death metal. There is a moderate amount of blasting (fortunately not too much so as to make everything indistinguishable), tons of tremolo-picking, and growled vocals that are largely indecipherable.  Tempos are generally high, but the band has a superior ability to get doomy at times. These sections, though few and far between, will annihilate your brain with their sheer heaviness ("Ancient" in particular sounds like a long-lost Morbid Angel grinder). Similarly, when the band goes mid-paced, they succeed at crushing everything in their path. 

Nucleus’ style of death metal isn’t particularly conducive to creating memorable songs. When all is said and done, “Sentient” is primarily about causing intense amounts of musical mayhem in ways you wouldn’t quite expect. You might expect a conventional riff to go one way, but Nucleus ends up playing it quite differently. This is the primary appeal of “Sentient” (though the killer artwork and imagery don’t hurt either). There isn’t too much else to say about this release because one look at it, and you probably have a good idea as to whether or not you’ll like it.

Be sure to check out and like Nucleus on Facebook!

Highlights

All of it

Final Rating

4.25/5 or 85%. 

Written by Scott

Hemotoxin – Biological Enslavement

“Biological Enslavement” is Hemotoxin’s second full length, and comes a couple of years after their last EP, “Alchemist”. If you’re familiar with the band already, this album picks up where “Alchemist” left off, but turns everything up a couple of notches. For those who haven’t had the fortune of hearing Hemotoxin before, you can expect technical death/thrash metal in the vein of many of the subgenre’s leaders. These Californians are clearly influenced by bands like Vektor and Voivod (though who isn’t at this point?), but they take the extremity and brutality even further, while still incorporating other influences. Although this is most evident in the vocals, it is actually the guitars where this element is first noticeable. The production is extremely sharp, to the point where some of the lower, buzzing riffs almost feel painful to listen to (pain being a positive factor in this case). Indeed, this brings back memories of guitar tones from a band like Razor, who had a delightfully vicious assault. As noted above, however, Hemotoxin’s vocalist is also extremely aggressive. Combining the general understandability of many thrash vocalists, with a slightly guttural approach, he reaches somewhat of a Mille Petrozza-type sound.

One might expect that because of all of this brutality (which includes the occasional blast beat as well) that the band lacks melody, but that is not the case. Numerous songs have leads that that will catch your ear, with “Minus Human” taking a unique approach altogether. The start of this song sounds like a completely different band, as the group offers a softer more melodic section before getting much more technical. This particular track sounds highly influenced by mid/late-era Death. In fact, a lot of the riffs on this release sound like they could have been written by Chuck Schuldiner, which is a very high compliment. 

The biggest reason why “Biological Enslavement” succeeds is because it isn’t simply a one-trick pony. Yes, there are stupidly technical riffs on this album, and if you can’t handle the more modern approach of technical metal bands, it will be difficult, but there are also still plenty of more straight forward thrash riffs to enjoy. Similarly, the balance between melody and sheer brutality (which “Forgotten Faces” often pulls off at the same time) is impressive. Overall, Hemotoxin has a good hand on a variety of styles, and is able to incorporate them into their own unique blend of death/thrash, resulting in an album well worth purchasing!

Be sure to check out and like Hemotoxin on Facebook!

Highlights

"Regression"

"Minus Human"

"Forgotten Faces"

Final Rating

4.25/5 or 85%. 

Written by Scott