The album starts with the pounding “Evil Unleashed.” Starting off like mid 80s Kreator, the mission of this band is crystal clear. Play fast brutal metal that pays homage to the legacy of the 80s Thrash scene. Guitarists, Pete Evil and Dor Amazon lay down one great thrash riff after another and also manage to inject some melody into their playing. “Rampage Of Revenge” at over six minutes is a perfect example of the style of this band. Starting off like a Bay Area band before taking off into a section that is reminiscent of prime Kreator, the band rip through this song and the lead guitars are pretty kickass too. While every song resembles the same formula of combining the Bay Area thrash sound with the European Thrash sound, where Blood Tsunami excel is in the riffs. Evil and Amazon lay down riff after riff of thrash goodness while not sacrificing the melody. Drummer Faust’s (ex- Emperor) playing is tight and controlled and reins in the music while bass player Bosse holds up the bottom end competently. The vocals are sort of black metal with a tinge of the Scandinavian scene in the phrasing but work very well with the music.

Other stand out tracks include “Infernal Final Carnage” which leans a bit towards the melodic side of Thrash, “Torn Apart” sounds like a Slayer song that got left out of the “Seasons In The Abyss” album and sounds like it would be a killer live song. The epic “Godbeater” at just over ten minutes long brings about a much needed and welcome change of pace to the album. More mid-paced than the other songs and still going for a slight “Seasons In The Abyss” feel but also introducing a little bit of the whole Gothenburg riffing style into their music, “Godbeater” shows that there’s more to Blood Tsunami than just a rehash of ideas from the 80s. Album closer “Killing Spree” starts of like early Metallica before the Slayer influences once again come to the fore. An adrenaline charged and quite perfect end to the album.

Blood Tsunami have made a very entertaining album and “Thrash Metal” is exactly that. The band has a brutal, focused delivery that elevates “Thrash Metal” to somewhere slightly above your average garden variety retro-thrash band. However, like most new bands playing this style, I have to point out that this has been done before and done a lot better. The band run the risk of sounding boring after the initial few listens and once the nostalgia factor wears out.

While I am very interested in seeing how this band progresses and what their second album will sound like, for now, “Thrash Metal” is a solid release that has one foot in the past and one foot planted in the present. Nice.

Label – Candlelight

Year Of Release – 2007