Thrash Notes

Abandoned must have been one of the hundreds of thousands of thrash revivalist bands that emerged in the early to mid-2000s, similar to Suicidal Angels, Warbringer, Fueled By Fire, and the list goes on and on. Contrarily to those bands, this band never saw the popularity or longevity that those three bands saw, and they decided to call it quits after their second album. I can't comment on that one yet, but their debut Thrash Notes is worth checking out, but probably only once. It is an okay, sometimes good listen for one or two spins, but that's all.

Several elements reminisce Razor's Decibels about this album. The record is very one-dimensional and sticks to one moderately fast, repetitive pace, and things get worse yet. Similar mostly down-picked riffs are played, and it sounds like some of the same effects are used on the vocalist's vocals that have been used on Bob Reid's vocals on Decibels during certain moments. How can this be better than mediocre? Well, those things are severe inaccuracies that have been made by the band when writing and recording this album, but they aren't enough to completely ruin an album. Thankfully, the band didn't make any other blunders.

The band's obviously not going for brutality and heaviness, that's clear from the vibe and tonality. They are going for utter precision and refinement, similar to bands like Sacrifice, Coroner, and Deathwish. The thing is though, they don't really have the songwriting prowess that those bands have. The riffs in The Upcoming Storm are outstanding, particularly when you hit 1:30, they play a really cool descending part that sets the tone for a pretty technically inclined album. That's not the case at all.

After that, the music becomes way more basic and less ambitious. Already the second song, Return To One does away with all of that undertone and the album becomes just another basic, mid-2000s thrash release. Now to save the record from being boring, they are at least pretty spirited about the craft, and they execute these songs with a decent amount of kick to them and more than sufficient energy. There are enough transitions and enough melodies (particularly in Phoenix Rise) to make this album a relatively enjoyable listen, and get you to headbang along with the "thrash notes" as they fly by.

One thing that helps this band immensely is the excellent production. It is a bit strange to hear a band like this choose a sound this raw and aggressive. Most of the time, we are used to hearing more brutality and more extremity when hearing a tone like this, like in the case of Gammacide and/or Demolition Hammer's Tortured Existence. It works remarkably well with this more refined style of thrash as well, and it is a further testament to the fact that the raw, punchy sound is always to be preferred as opposed to the soft, crystal clear studio-perfected modern production.

Way more could have come from this album, if just a little bit more technicality and ambition were presented. Like this, it is no wonder that this band disappeared into the gray pages of history with absolutely no publicity. What is the appeal of this album? If you want precise thrash, the aforementioned Coroner, Sacrifice, and Deathwish are no-brainers over this album. If you want brutal thrash, how about Demolition Hammer, Sadus, Morbid Saint, and Dark Angel? If you want technical thrash, why not check out Hexen, Toxik, and Vektor? In what scenario would you choose to listen to this at all, after you checked it out the first time? I guess if you want to hear good production, you could name this one to be the album to go with, but in and of itself, that ain't gonna cut it.

Well, what have we here? A brand new Thrash Metal band from Germany! What could this mean for us then? Another classic in the vein of our favourite Kreator, Sodom and Destruction; another throwaway Thrash-by-numbers piece, or a disc with new ideas and an original sound being put on the table? Only by listening to Thrash Notes will you truly know the answers, but read on so you may hopefully get an informed idea about what the answer is...

This is quite clearly heavy enough for headbanging Thrashing, with a fairly even mix of riffing styles going at all speeds, but generally hanging at the faster end of the spectrum. The singer has a kind of curious vocal style, generally a half-sung, half-shouted style with a distinct German twang (without becoming Klaus Meine style "ze Germans are koming!). Most of the vocals reminded me of Slayer's Crionics with an accent. Whilst most of the riffs are good enough, and go down well while you listen to them, few really seem to stick in the mind (at least after five listens on this end). Instead, it is the singer providing some catchy choruses that keep the album in mind and the riffs feeling good. Return To One and Breed Machine stand out the most in this regard, and I believe this to be Abandoned's forte. Catchy Thrash without descending into cheese or pop inclinations - just enough of it for you to tell them apart from the rest of the pack.

A very sparing use of solos also helps seperate Abandoned from other bands - it is nice to be able to get through an album without knowing the solo before you hear it ("well that's the second chorus gone, just a 30-second solo to get through before they repeat it again"). One leaf they could've done without borrowing is the St Anger snare sound though. It may just be a case of it hurting more with earphones, but seriously...put Holy Terror on at full volume on your discman/iPod/whatever, and make sure you have the cotton wool on hand to stop the blood...

Originally written for http://www.metalmongrel.com