A fascinating original sounding mixture of Thrashcore à la S.O.D. or D.R.I. with Death Metal elements and vocals comparable to good ol’ CARCASS offer GHOUL from California. Their second full-length CD is a rousing masterpiece containing eight straight, memorable, asskicking own tunes, a macabre Punk-style version of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What A Wonderful World’ and a Psychobilly-influenced instrumental. The rather ridiculous concept the album and its creators present should not be taken too seriously, but I enjoyed the b-movie like story of the GHOUL’s terrorising a peaceful community, thrashing up the graveyard and bashing some Black Metal-freaks while getting endangered by the fearless ‘Ghoul Hunter’. This “concept” plus the very comic-like layout might not appeal to everyone, but songs like the incredibly cool thrasher ‘Numbskull’ (incl. gangshouting, moshpart – classic!) or ‘Forbidden Crypts’ are just too great to be ruined by the band’s idea of skating, mosh-addicted ghouls. People who like CARCASS, killing 80s Thrash should check out “Maniaxe” at instant, because production-wise everything’s excellent, too. There’s nothing more left for me to say than: “Get this!!!” For more information and MP3’s by GHOUL visit the label’s website: www.razorbackrecords.com.