Tormentor Erich: Damn, things are going well in the Dutch metal scene. Last month I was blown away by the new Dead Head album, and this time it is Thanatos that rages through my living room, creating some serious damage.
It took a while (the last full length album saw the light of day in 2004), but the long waiting is now rewarded. Okay, I have to be honest and mention that the two bonus tracks ‘And Jesus Wept‘ and the Dark Angel cover ‘The Burning Of Sodom’ already were available as a seven inch single in 2006 and with another cover (‘Dawn Of Eternity’, originally by Massacre) there are from eleven tracks only eight real new ones on the album. But does this spoil the fun? No, not at all! I would even like to point out that these covers show again how close thrash and (old school) death metal can be, and how strong a decent mixture of these styles can work out. Because of this combination an album like ‘Justified Genocide’ has got a lot to offer. Of course there are the musical skills from the band members who can look back at almost twenty five years of experiences and participations in other bands like Melechesh and Hail of Bullets. Tight, fast, sometimes more quietly, heavy and very intense, but always in control, as it should be. And I know that performing skills only will not create automatically a good song, therefore some decent song writing is needed, and this is also not a problem for Thanatos. The tracks that made it on ‘Justified Genocide’ are packed with variation, they are well written and never boring. I could tell you now that a song like ‘Destruction.Chaos.Creation.’ is a high speed attack, or that ‘Apostles Of Damnation’ turned out to be a gripping mid tempo death metal song, that during ‘The Netherworld’ fast and heavy are combined in the right way and that I hear some Holy Moses riffs in the title track. But it is better to check all this out for yourselves.
Oh, and of course it is the music that does the trick, but I also have to give credits to the voice of Stephan on ‘Justified Genocide’. He sings with a bit more variety this time, and that gives the songs an extra finishing touch. The good production (recorded in the Excess Studio in Rotterdam and mixed by Dan Swano in Sweden) and the fine artwork round everything up. This album is my tip of the month!
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