HELLBRINGER are yet another black-tinged Thrash act in the vein of CRUEL FORCE and DEATHAMMER. It seems these kind of VENOM influenced retro-Thrash acts have been popping up everywhere for the last couple years. As I hit play on their self titled album and heard the introductory evil laughter, I was hoping for something as adrenaline charged and triumphantly evil as CRUEL FORCE’s The Rise Of Satanic Might. But, as it pains me to report, HELLBRINGER just do not deliver. This is a pretty monotonous release, consisting of literally nothing but palm muted tremolo picking and homogeneous power chord riffs, punctuated by the occasional generic solo. I’ve listened to this twice and I’m still having a hard time recalling any especially memorable moments present on Hellbringer. As mentioned above, the guitar basically just plays Thrash stereotypes. The vocals are a fairly standard Thrash bark, though there are some high shrieks that sound exactly like Schmier of DESTRUCTION (think “Curse The Gods”). As for the rhythm section, and the bass is a vague presence at the back of the music, except for a couple brief segments on the album where the guitar drops out and entirely. The drums keep the beat but do nothing interesting. HELLBRINGER definitely have their heart in the right place, but need to work on their execution. Overall, I can’t recommend this album to anyone, though perhaps fanatical devotees of Thrash or Black/Thrash will find something of worth here. For everyone else, I’d say go pick up some CRUEL FORCE, DEATHAMMER, MIDNIGHT, or TRENCH HELL. www.myspace.com/hellbringeraus, www.iron-pegasus.com