Thrash Metal (CD - 2007)

Recording information: Lion Heart Studios (09/2006-11/2006).

If a style of music goes out of vogue, someone will likely try to make it popular again (or at least make it more plentiful). That's why the music world has seen a Dixieland revival in the '50s, a rockabilly revival movement in the late '70s and early '80s, and a power metal revival movement in the '90s and 2000s. Thrash metal's peak years were the '80s and early '90s, and the fact that Blood Tsunami named this 2007 release Thrash Metal indicates that the Norwegian band would love to see a big thrash revival movement in the early 2000s. But there's a twist: Evil Pete, Blood Tsunami's lead singer/founder, doesn't sound like the frontman for an '80s thrash band -- he sings with the type of sinister, straight-from-hell rasp that black metal is known for. In terms of riffs and song structures, however, Thrash Metal definitely owes a lot to '80s thrash as well as early death metal. The influence of Slayer (who are considered both thrash metal and death metal), Exodus, Death and other bands that came out of the '80s is hard to miss. So Thrash Metal is basically a thrash metal/death metal album that has a black metal vocal style but not black metal's riffs, song structures, harmonies or blastbeats. Former Emperor member Bård Eithun, aka Faust, is Blood Tsunami's drummer, but his playing on this album is strictly in the thrash/death metal vein -- not the black metal vein. Overall, Thrash Metal is decent; none of the material is exceptional, but the disc is still an intriguing demonstration of the way a band can obsess over '80s thrash metal and early death metal while having a raspy lead vocalist who wouldn't be out of place in a black metal band like Marduk or Dark Funeral. ~ Alex Henderson minimize