Split Tape
(Nihilistic Holocaust)
22:57min
A split tape of two old school Thrash Metal bands – thumbs up!!! In general Gab from Nihilistic Holocaust releases quite a lot of items interesting to the readers of VOICES and this time this is no exception. EXTINCTION AGENDA provide the three tracks from their self titled demo tape from 2005 and this is definitely some REAL Thrash (with some slight Death Metal overtones here and there)! You won’t find even the tiniest bit of Scandinavian influences which is a big plus in my book. Instead of dabbling with cheesy melodies and twin guitars this (by now) three piece celebrates raw North American thrashing music with its roots clearly in the mid to late eighties / early ninties… bands like maybe RAZOR or early SLAYER / EXODUS come to my mind when listening to the EXTINCTION AGENDA side. The band features two former members of December WOLVES as I read on the homepage – this shows, if at all, only in the good musicianship but not on the music itself. I find the raw production to be more than appropriate for old school Thrash. Needless to say that anybody looking for "innovation" is wrong here… personally I prefer this over any band playing Swe / retro Thrash as the spirit is obviously there. Good one, this is definitely something for people into real Thrash from the underground. Go to their page for further impressions: www.exagenda.cjb.net. OPRESSION on the other side hail from Sweden and have an approach which is far more Bay-Area oriented for my ears – comparing OPPRESSION to DARK ANGEL and FORBIDDEN in terms of songwriting and riffing is not too far off the point I would say, VIO-LENCE could also be thrown in. The band took their three songs from their "To Protect And Serve" Demo ’05. An energetic mixture and again the production and overall musicianship is cool! But, alas, the downside here are the vocals! Older semesters (hehe) might get accustomed to his way of clear Thrash-street-violence-vocals as they were quite commonly used in the eighties but for me they are too tame and somewhat powerless. From the news on OPPRESSION’s homepage I gathered that they have deceided to search for a new singer and use the vocals presented here only as backing vocals in the future which is definitely what I would recommend as well. Have a look: www.oppression.se. So the bottom line is? A very cool split tape with two quite promising real Thash Metal bands who obviously put their sweat, aggression, spirit and balls into their music! No gimmicks and no innovation to be found here – clearly music for Thrash Metal enthusiasts. Get this fucker for very cheap 3,50 Euros from the label and check out the homepages of the bands. Nihilistic Holocaust homepage: http://site.voila.fr/NIHILISTIC/.
Ulrich Kreienbrink
• OPPRESSION - Scars 1988-1990 (Anders Peter Jørgensen)
• OPPRESSION - Bleeding The Fist! (Michael Oelschlegel)