Awaiting Evil (CD - 2008)

The Bay Area has a rich tradition of thrash metal, and native sons Hatchet are mining its past for the sounds they grew up on. AWAITING EVIL is a thrash purist's dream made real. The album even begins with a classic "gathering storm" of acoustic guitars and winding, lonesome electric leads before taking flight with straight-ahead vintage head banging. Songs like "Sealed Fate" and "Attack Imminent" feature the scraping, propulsive guitars and lockstep drumming of classic Metallica, and the dry, unvarnished production is as tough as dirty denim. Hatchet is doing its best to satisfy the hunger for old-school thrash.

Some would say that California is the state that spawned thrash metal, as such renowned acts as Exodus, Testament, and of course Metallica all hailed from there. But in their wake, it's not as if wave after wave of thrash metallists have sprung up from the land of Joe Montana and Barry Bonds. But by the early 21st century, a Bay Area band emerged whose members had obviously studied their well-worn copies of Bonded by Blood and Kill 'Em All backwards and forwards -- Hatchet. Everything about the group sonically screams '80s thrash: the nonstop chug-a-lug guitar riffing, the shouted vocals, and even corny song titles ("Frozen Hell," "Attack Imminent," etc.). Close your eyes and pick out any of the album's nine tracks, and you're bound to come across something that would have sounded absolutely perfect being introduced by Riki Rachtman on an episode of Headbangers Ball back in 1989. ~ Greg Prato minimize