Death Brigade

Promotion pics which seem to show the legitimate successor of early Exciter, a chainsaw guitar sound and the merciless vileness of the most unscrupulous Deströyer 666 tracks - these are just three components of the cosmos where Avenger of Blood set the agenda. The first time I heard a song of them was on the "Speed Kills... Again" compilation and in particular the deadly "Enemy Attack" made me more than curious. Well, "Death Brigade" holds more lethal weapons, but honestly speaking, they hinder each other. Ten suns probably do not shine brighter than one and here we have the same situation. Each and every song is a celebration of thrashing old school cruelty, but all of them fire in the same direction and so their effect is much smaller than I hoped.

Permanent high speed is not the most promising recipe to create a very dynamic album and the choruses fail to give the listener a point of orientation. The constant nagging of the Mille fanboy behind the microphone is rather monotonous and the riffs are seeking their individuality. No, this is no bad record, don't get me wrong. The level of aggression is impressive and the authenticity of formation deserves recognition. There are no details that kill the entire work and I do not see any reason to blame them for stereotyped titles such as "Poserslaughter". Nevertheless, those factors that transform a solid thrash album into a murderous experience are missing. Charismatic vocals (Paul Baloff, you are unforgotten), fragile melodies that show up surprisingly (Forbidden managed this art perfectly) or simple parts that combine brutality with catchiness (Slayer's line "Watch as flowers decay" opens the gates to a prime example in this context) - regrettably, Avenger of Blood do not have such elements in their portfolio. Aggravating this situation, their compositional skills leave room for optimization, because they seem to know only one formula.

"Death Brigade" is a narrow-minded, one-dimensional and pretty hellish full-length that expresses its profound contempt for everything that sounds like more or less commercial music. The pure frenzy marks the biggest (and sometimes only) asset of the quartet from the United States and songs like the title track or "When Will You Die" are, considered in isolation, very effective means to free the ears from dirt. Credit for this successful treatment is also due to the dust-dry production that does not suffer from major flaws. Needless to say that the saws (read: the guitars) dominate the mix. It's a typical genre sound, no more, no less. Nothing surprising on an album that lacks variety and so Avenger of Blood do not gain a position ahead of the 21st century thrash pack. Guess that "Enemy Attack" is the best track they ever wrote.

The sophomore release Death Brigade of retro-thrash band Avenger of Blood is far from original but does entertain for a good portion of its duration. Like every retro-thrash metal band Avenger of Blood takes their songwriting and style right out of old school thrash’s textbook. Avenger of Blood focuses much more on the heavier European thrash metal movements of the 80’s and even sounds reminiscent of early Kreator albeit with far less entertaining songs.

Most songs on Death Brigade are fast-tempo thrashers with a few mid-tempo parts. Solos are usually shredded and extremely unoriginal and boring. Most songs are almost entirely based on riffs and very few leads and intros are present. The lyrical approach is in the usual thrash metal focusing on apocalyptic and killing poser’s themes. The production sounds like a glorified demo probably owing to the bands plan to make Death Brigade sound as 80’s like as possible. Variety is almost non existent and most of the songs are cohesive as a whole but very few stand out at all.

The bands performance is average showing skills that are solid but nothing out of the ordinary. Chris Rodriguez vocals are very similar to Mille Petrozza of Kreator fame and even sounds more like Mille than Mille sounds right now. Chris also plays bass but it is completely inaudible throughout Death Brigade. Marc Flores guitar playing as said above is average but is the main focus throughout this album. Shannon Frye is the most experienced member but doesn’t really stand out and certainly is only a solid drummer.

Death Brigade’s second half is less entertaining and just as repetitive as the first half. Avenger of Blood needs to find their own sound since they focus way too much on the past and unlike Warbringer do not bring and excellent take on the early side of thrash metal. The lengths of some of the songs like Sadistic Inquisitor and Assassins are overdrawn and could have been shortened a few minutes each. Finally Avenger of Blood need to work harder on their song structure since most songs don’t have any riffs and you feel like you have heard many of the songs earlier on the album.

Death Brigade is an average album from an average band that need to find themselves and try to incorporate some new ideas at the very least. Best songs are Vicious Onslaught, Death Brigade, When Will You Die, and Poserslaughter. I recommend this release only to fans of the retro-thrash movement or fans who really like Mille Petrozza’s vocal style.

-5 points unoriginal and highly repetitive
-5 points second half is weaker and quality and sounds very similar
-10 points variety and uniqueness are not represented here
-4 points focus way too much on the past and need to focus more on their own identity as a band

Are you sure it's 2008? 'Cuz it feels like '86 right here! Seriously, this is total PtK worship you wouldn't believe it (okay maybe you will.)! From the riffs to the semi-there bass to the frickin' vox! Total Kreator-worship no more, no less. But is it good?

Hard to believe but yes. Sure, this album (and to a lesser extent the band itself) is very derivative but again, it works! Sure, Sal's vox sounds like Mille's but hey, Avenger of Blood is more Kreator than Kreator are these days so be grateful for that. But who cares about the vox when there are RIFFS to be enjoyed! The riffs here are magnificent, even if a little same-ish at times (not very often mind you.) The solos are also great, very Euro-thrash but a tad more melodic. The drums are your standard 'Um-Ch-Um-Ch-Um-Ch-Um-Ch' played ad nauseam and the fills are none-so-spectacular.

The production is...weird. The snare drum kinda echoes and the guitars are somewhat buried by the drums. Hey Mr. Producer! Tone down the drums, we can't hear the fuckin' riffs! The vox are, as expected, overwhelmed by the other instruments (except the bass, of course,) which makes it hard to hear. Although, it's not as if you listen to thrash for thought-provoking lyrics, do you (well there are bands that do that, but overall?) In the end, the album loses points for the wonky production.

Are there good songs? Ee-yep! The title track is fucking infectious, c'mon let's "All! Hail! The Death Brigade!/All! Fear! The Death Brigade!" *sniffles* Now that is a chorus folks! "Poserslaughter" is good too, I think it's available on the web for download. The 3 last tracks are also the best, they got more variety than the first half of the album. All in all, this is a good album but kinda repetitive at times.

Get it? Got it? Good! This is indeed an album worthy of a place in your collection. May I suggest locating the vinyl (they [i]still[/i] make those?) it's got a bonus track. Neat huh? Enough of my babbling! Get your ass to the nearest record shop (or download, whichever you prefer) and hail the Death Brigade!

Avenger of Blood is another hilariously over the top retro-thrash band with a theme of killing posers, apocalyptic death, and other typical death or killing related imagery that pops up in their songs. Playing a dirtier version of retro-thrash than say the melodic works of Evile or Warbringer but not quite as raw as that of Violator or Skeletonwitch. Milking the fact that Kreator are thrash gods and playing an almost identical style as early Kreator say Coma of Souls-era; with crunchy riffs overlapping hyper fast guitar solos and vicious rapid vocals that sound exactly like Mille Petrozza.

So while Avenger of Blood isn’t exactly the most original of the retro-thrash movement (then again which ones are?), their music doesn’t flow from the norm. Mid tempo thrashers like When Will You Die remind me of a Sodom/Kreator hybrid to the faster numbers like Poserslaughter ooze with Demolition Hammer/Kreator worship. So if you have a general idea as to how the heavier thrash hybrids would sound like yet with slightly watered down to basically unoriginal riffs and song structures then you have Avenger of Blood. Most songs on here are enjoyable for the time being; despite lacking from variety, weak production and ripping off other famous bands style.

The musicians are equally talented, with guitar riffs that are deemed worthy for headbanging, even as I mentioned being rather weak or uninspired still can be fun like the main riff in Sadistic Inquisitor. The solos are probably the best part, if not also seeming uninspired at times, but there are some awesome ones to be found, like in Terminate. The drums play their part as it should blasting away with little remorse and let up, but I find the drum production is rather annoying at times, especially with the damn snare. Bassist/vocalist Sall Lalli does the best Mille Petrozza job mimicking Petrozza’s approach for the semi-raspy, semi-growled approach with force and vigor aiding to the music, but I can’t help but feel that Avenger of Blood is trying too hard to be Kreator.

In the end this is a fun listen despite lacking originality. Nothing new or original to be found here, especially for the retro-thrash movement I suggest going back and listening to Endless Pain instead of this; but this is entertaining for a few listens if not for a throwback to the 80’s and reminiscing of Kreator’s glory times. I give Avenger of Blood props for keeping the thrash alive and worshiping the gods but they could try harder next time. Give this a spin if you’re really big into the retro-thrash movement or love Kreator.