ALBUM REVIEW: Ravens Creed, "Get Killed or Try Dying"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 02/08/2018

Label: Xtreem Music

Total misanthropy. That's what sums up Ravens Creed. This is masterful thrash/death metal for people who hate everything and/or like Venom

“Get Killed or Try Dying” CD//DD track listing:

1). Intro – Unrelenting Extremity

2). Dead Bird on Winchester Street

3). Death on a Rival

4). Get Killed or Try Dying

5). Hymn or Hearse

6). Off with their Legs

7). Treacherous Rector

8). Rats Beneath Our Feet

9). Remember the Hammer

10). Sound of Sirens

11). When a Deaf Man Goes Blind

12). The Trauma of Being Haunted

13). Outro

The Review:

Ravens Creed have always been a feral and vicious beast, but this album sees them return with a new level of aggression and power. After the knockout one-two combination of “Albion Thunder” and then “The Power”, their third record “Ravens Krieg” suffered a little in terms of songs. No such issue here: once again it is just wall to wall riffs from Iron Monkey's Steve Watson. The songs all clock in short and are tightly wound.

Rod Boston and Jay Graham supply a lock tight rhythm section and Al Osta's sandpaper growl compliments this full metal racket perfectly. You get thirteen tracks, all around the two or three minute mark, non stop thrash/death metal with no pretensions whatsoever.

What are Ravens Creed in this for? World domination? No. They hardly play any gigs, aren't interested in promoting themselves and are unlikely to trouble the promoters of Download any time soon. Extremity, then? Pushing the musical boundaries? Not really- there are really catchy elements to most tracks here and the riffs are the work of a true master craftsman. I can only conclude that it's just pure hatred keeps them going.

Total misanthropy. That's what sums up Ravens Creed. That and pun ridden song titles, of course. Masterful thrash/death from the East Midlands by way of West Yorkshire. For people who hate everything and/or like Venom.

“Get Killed or Try Dying” is available to pre-order/buy here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Sodom - "Decision Day"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/08/2016

Label: Steamhammer

This is highly recommended for anyone who likes the gnarlier end of metal from Motorhead to Venom to Exodus to early Sepultura to Ravens Creed and so on. Nasty. And great!

“Decision Day” CD//DD//LP track listing:

01. In Retribution (06:14)
02. Rolling Thunder (04:22)
03. Decision Day (04:03)
04. Caligula (04:01)
05. Who Is God? (04:35)
06. Strange Lost World (04:59)
07. Vaginal Born Evil (05:15)
08. Belligerence (04:00)
09. Blood Lions (03:17)
10. Sacred Warpath (05:34)
11. Refused To Die (04:27)
12. Predatory Instinct (04:44) (bonus track for vinyl and iTunes edition)

The Review:

From their early days when they played a kind of primitive black metal akin to Venom/Hellhammer, to the seminal albums of the late 80's, Sodom have occupied a rather special niche. They remain part of the German Big Three (arguably four, if you count Tankard) with Kreatorand Destruction. Truthfully, I have never gone through Sodom'sback catalogue in the same way as I have Kreator's, but that may now have to change.

“Decision Day” represents another quality release in the Sodomdiscography. You get eleven tracks of feral thrash. From opener “In Retribution”, through the title track and beyond, this is evil and dark music from masters of the genre. The technique is most certainly there these days, with Tom Angelripper backed up very impressively by Bern Kost and Markus Freiwald. Keeping to the power trio format has been the band’s strength over the years: think of them as a thrash Motorhead. You know what you want, what you are getting and what the band will inevitably deliver.

There are surprising moments of melody to go with the bombast- a lead break here, a tempo change there- it all adds up to a record that is well rounded and impressively adrenaline fuelled. The bass sound, as heard on “Caligula” is also mightily impressive. Sodom have kept the somewhat inventive/bizarre phrasing from earlier albums with titles like “Vaginal Born Evil" and have certainly kept their anger intact. This is metal of the old school variety- when it was still dangerous and a bit... well, scary.

It is on the most focused and succinct tracks which the band really shines- “Blood Lions” being a prime example- but the album is such that there is nothing spare here, nothing wasted. The song lengths are fairly uniform- around four minutes, although sometimes on either side of that and this is indicative of the fact that Tom and crew have their style down and write in a particular way as pertains to structure and changes. Ultimately, this is a huge strength: the band know exactly how to do this and they do it very well.

By the time “Refused To Die” rolls around, the album has proven to be very much a heads-down-see-you-at-the-end thrash fest. This is highly recommended for anyone who likes the gnarlier end of metal from Motorheadto Venomto Exodusto early Sepulturato Ravens Creed and so on. Nasty. And great!

“Decision Day” is available now

Band info: facebook

FFO: Kreator, Destruction, Slayer, Venom