This band from Italy turns out to be a rather pleasant surprise with this 5 tracks affair. I have always had a soft spot for Italian bands, be them from the magnificent Progressive Rock scene of the 70s or from the more recent traditional and extreme Metal ones. DEVASTER offer a fine brand of greatly inspired Thrash, and believe me “Infernal March” is surely a winner in that apparently simple but in fact very difficult to master musical genre. After a war-like intro the sonic battle begins with an ultra-speedy track and it becomes obvious at once that this four piece has talent enough to impress the pickiest Thrash devotee, thanks to a perfect mastery of their instruments, their great sense of songwriting and an overall excellent sound (the tracks are not overproduced, but are very organic and warm sounding). In fact, the more this promo CD comes forward to its conclusion, the more the music becomes better, with the two last tracks (‘Infernal Evocation’ and ‘Necrothrash’) being two minor classics in their own rights (for the connoisseurs, the former evokes the spectre of the great – and almost forgotten – US Speed Metal band HELLHOUND). To me it is quite evident that DEVASTER (a great moniker by the way) deserve a proper record deal, and quick. I will spare you the usual refrain “if a label manager with a brain…”, because in the DEVASTER case it is quite easy to check out the rightness (or lack of) of my opinion, since this entire promo is available to download for free on www.devaster.net: its quality speaks for itself really. I love this immensely and I have no doubt DEVASTER are here to stay, I can’t wait for the first proper full length. THUMBS UP!