Helstar - Glory of Chaos review

Year : 2010
Genre : Thrash Metal
Label : AFM Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 9.0 / 10

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Texan metal act Helstar brings you thrash as authentic as electricity since 1982, and, popping this 2010 gem into your music player device is the equivalent of releasing a testament on your hide that feeds from the most rabid and restless thrash ethos - the vintage thrash ethos - that in my opinion is currently conceivable.

Helstar's 2010 LP, Glory of Chaos, as mixed martial arts notability Don Frye would say, "is like prison sex : fast, hard and violent, and there is a lot of noise." Some noises are more than they sound as first though, and the situation is only partly similar herein, because this album wastes no moment to emerge as top of the food chain vintage thrash delicacy, regardless how it has been released in 2010.

Glory of Chaos brings the structure, along with the "mere" sound of the ethos we are talking about. What you hear on this release is supremely faithful to the most mythical / popular thrash releases. Megadeth's earlier work - Killing Is My Business, Rest In Pieces - and pretty much anything I currently know from Kreator comes to mind, though it seems safe to say that the teutonic thrashers are even more aggressive in nature than Megadeth is, for most of the time. Check out track number 2, called "Pandemonium" on this Helstar release, which is extremely similar to what an early Megadeth song tends to come through as, in my opinion. If someone would say to me : "this is a lost recording of early Megadeth ", I would totally believe it!!!!exclamation mark

Helstar, as an exigent and committed keeper of an ever-rabid style others have decided to venture away from, remains faithful to this vintage thrash ethos, and exhibits doubtless capacity to deliver material that emerges as pretty much equal to the classic-, aforementioned deliveries. Read on to find out how this release works.


It works as a tight vintage thrash release, of course : mid-tempo is very rare herein, while cunning and ferocity are both permanent companions. From a musical point of view, this is good old fashioned - not a negative notion in this regard - thrash sound operating via the genre's vibrant mechanics, and the collective timber of the release has awareness enough of its own nature to not include glitter and too massive presence of anything. The elements you hear on these tracks are absolutely well defined, but they do not seek to overwhelm you by their occupied volumetric proportions, they instead seek to form an intricately fragmented wall of sound experience in which the vocals can live in a raging hell without being endangered by their direct surroundings.

As hinted, the structures of the songs are quite similar to the meta-architecture established by deliveries that to this day outline the cream of this style, and, one is free to conclude with great delight that the presence of genuine musical effort and inventiveness is ubiquitous on the LP when scrutinized from the angle of ultimate value. Glory of Chaos has a playful fabric that never trades in the legit bite for alibi-technicality, while it also shows zero interest - OK, not shows - in going for the tolerance-hook.

One interesting attribute that separates this LP from its mythic predecessors is a pronounced tendency to sport vocals that border on aggressive, melodic power metal. The lead singer finds efficient notes - relating to the harmonies - to take them across interesting arcs and lengths, and has a reoccurring agenda to go Rob Halford at a couple of exceptional occasions. The power metal component should not make you believe that the release exhibits the fabric of a thrash / power hybrid, as this is not the case. Glory of Chaos is relentlessly thrash, and the vocals merely pack more propensity to exhibit uncensored vocal melody than the genre most often cares to tolerate.

Helstar's Glory of Chaos consciously resonates from a musical field that gave birth to the original form of thrash, and this-, pretty much scientifically cultivated, unconditional faithfulness necessarily guarantees a vintage thrash metal experience that gives no place to disappoint on. An immediate-, safe recommendation for every rabid fan of the genre.

Rating : 9.0 / 10

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Lich King - Super Retro Thrash review

Year : 2011
Genre : 8-bit Thrash Metal
Label : StormSpell Records
Origin : United States
Rating : 8.0 / 10

Lich King - this is what I call a perfect band name AND a perfect cover art, to be honest - comes out with the first 8-bit thrash metal full length, and the results are outright hilarious : ever wondered how your first generation Nintendo Entertainment System would fare in resonating metal that has no less of an agenda than to waste stuff on sight for the sheer fun of it?

Among other truly relevant things and motor synapses it has created in millions and millions of nervous systems living on the face of Gaia, NES also has its immense and timeless musical heritage, - the Super Mario theme is a piece of music perfectly suitable to send out into space to contact little green spacemonkeys with - and now these classical 8-bit sound generator algorithms are ignited on top capacity to bring you absolutely SOLID thrash metal, in its architectural character. Read on to find out how your Super Mario 8-bit Thrash Lich King emerges to invade your soul to claim it as its own for the sake of highly radical private amusements.


Lich King's 8-bit thrash is rampantly old school - sorry?? - and fluently varied, and the primer fixations of the release, fortunately enough, are coming your way on the respective registers of maximum level thrash-, and menacing mid-tempo attack modes. There are no pauses here in the almighty body of the 8-bit mindfuck, and, to be frank, no one needs them, either. The tracks follow the classic thrashy compositional techniques, yielding declarations that reveal complex 8-bit sonic architectures, and one caveat that is quick to reveal its doings is the band's decision to administer the majority of the dosage on the same aural frequency. At least, it sounds to me that the tracks are immensely fixated on the low E string, which, of course, is a MUST to be fixated upon as a manic guitar molester, but, in my opinion, it is advisable to ATTEMPT to hide this fixation, and not get all too much relied on it.

Apart from this though, as it is stated on the album's back, all songs are awesome, and this is not a blatant exaggeration at all, saved for one other qualm - as extra - that needs to be addressed. The songs indeed are legit, old school thrash builds, yet the album features a very limited amount of lead work, - crazy-ass solos, for example, which I wished for greatly - in fact, almost none. The next Lich King installment, if the band decides to stick with this hilarious 8-bit thrash direction, will demand thrashing solos, for sure.

Lich King's Super Retro Thrash has tremendous charm and an unprecedented degree of sonic shock value, and it is a good idea to take in just one or two pills at a time, so the release has its chance to communicate the content along the same fresh 8-bit vibe, eliminating the feeling of the "E" fixation during a listen that follows up a gap.

Rating : 8.0 / 10

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