Over the last last year I have had the opportunity to witness firsthand the growth and accomplishments of an extremely talented group of very passionate thrash metal musicians. Trecelence is a band that to strives make solid headbanging technical thrash music and they have gained a loyal following within the Sonoma County Metal Community. The Santa Rosa, CA based band's new full-length album, “Justified Atrocities,” now looks to take the global metal world by storm with a fierce arsenal of technical thrash tracks.
To start, I am already aware that some will question the authenticity of this review and will claim that I am being biased since I know the band. However, as I have mentioned before when writing reviews with bands who I happen to know, I find that I can still present a fair assessment of the music. If I do not particularly like something, I will express my opinion. Also, all humans are biased and this bullshit about being as unbiased as pure white snow is a freaking joke. If the mainstream media is biased as hell, then I can write reviews about my friends’ music.
Moving on, “Justified Atrocities,” can be described as a technical thrash offering that pays homage to all those eighties bands who led the way by shredding and headbanging with endless amounts of mosh pit conjuring riffs. The album opens with the triumphant instrumental piece, “Canis Major,” and gives listeners a brief introduction to the technical guitar talents of Chris Olney Burnett and Donnie Small. The track then perfectly transitions into the next song, “Into the Gateway,” where bassist/vocalist Zane Covington unleashes an epic scream as the guitars and drums viciously begin their thrash journey into the chaotic sounding vortex. Drummer Ilan Cabrera maintains a solid presence on the track and along with Zane, creates a heavy sounding backbone where Chris and Donnie are able to come up with some impressive leads.
The area that stands out the most for me on this album is the guitar playing. Song number three, “Shrapnel Surroundings,” is filled to the brim with heavy skull crushing riffs and of course those tremendous note shredding leads. You even get a King Diamond like scream from Zane during the song to add that extra emphasis. I want to point out how Zane’s vocals have definitely improved since the band’s first EP “Acidic Demise,” and his ability to hit the high notes really stands out. Following it up, “Systematic Intimidation,” keeps the thrash machine moving and driving at top speed. At times I felt like the lyrics were getting lost in the riffs and Zane vocals during the verse sections could have been slightly louder.
Probably my favorite track on the album, “Corporatocracy,” contains a variety of dynamic riffs that have elements of more than just thrash. There is this one part towards the end where one of the guitars picks through these haunting minor chords and sounds a bit like something you might hear in a black metal song. “Agenda 21,” and “Burning the Pendulum,” are a couple of solid tracks that sort of maintain the same style and sound you heard from the previous tracks. The bass playing really stands out during, “Burning the Pendulum,” which helps add that devastating low end punch to the music.
The final three tracks are, “Under the Elusive Sky,” “Battle Beneath the Skull,” and “Aridscape.” All three tracks do not disappoint and the band stays consistent until the end. My only minor complaint is I am still not completely sold on the production for the vocals. I felt like the guitars and drums would drown out what Zane was saying, but that was only during a few sections. Overall, the band sounds really tight throughout the release.
To conclude, Trecelence crafted one ambitious sounding album that enters the gateway into the global world of metal by delivering some relentless and ferocious sounding tracks. Unlike some bands in the thrash genre who settle for basic recycled thrash worship riffs, one can hear where Trecelence is pushing themselves to create clever instrumental compositions to compliment their thought provoking lyrics. This is definitely a good starting point for the band and I know that their hard work ethic will allow them to construct even more solid technical thrash tunes in the future. So, get off your Twitters and stop worrying about who is going to be the next circus clown leader of the world circus and go pick up a copy of, “Justified Atrocities.”
Trecelence "Shrapnel Surroundings" :
Trecelence Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/trecelence/?fref=ts
No comments:
Post a Comment