Underdogs

Not long ago I was reflecting upon the odd irony surrounding a Swedish thrash album dubbed "The Last Defiance" predating and sounding very similar to the Bay Area band by the same name (minus "The Last" of course), and low and behold I find another odd coincidence of an album, this time in an album cover of a lesser know revivalist thrash band dubbed Battalion, which features a visual similar to the iconic Lou Reed video for "No Money Down", just a year before the ill-fated collaboration with Metallica that was panned as a dadaist mess on steroids. Thankfully "Underdogs" doesn't go for a before-the-fact musical emulation of said train wreck, though it does leave a tad bit to be desired as far as the musical content goes.

Generally speaking, Battalion is a band that has a formula of revisiting the mid 80s days of Metallica when speed was making way for experimentation (by the standards of the day anyway), an approach that had already been spearheaded by Evile going back to the mid 2000s. To be fair, this Swiss fold has been around for roughly the same amount of time and differ a bit from their British counterparts by employing more of a pre-thrash, slower grooving 80s heavy metal character to things, probably owing to them originally being a straight heavy metal act under a different name for the first 4 years of their existence. The chunky, Bay Area guitar sound is definitely a dead ringer for the Hetfield meets Peterson approach called for, though Battalion are a bit muddier in their tone than Evile, and vocalist Silvan Etzensperger is a bit less fancy than Matt Drake.

Having already heard their most recent effort "Set The Phantom Afire", the contents of this album didn't contain many surprises to speak of, though the songwriting did come off as being a bit harder edged at first glance. Crushing speeders like "Thrash Maniacs", "Running Alone" and "Bullets And Death" are made to order for anyone who was thrilled by what went on in "Enter The Grave", though the riff set is a bit simpler and solos are less plentiful. However, as the album goes on, the energy starts to give way to the band's earlier metal roots, particularly coming off as a heavier answer to Iron Maiden with a far more limited vocal approach. Particularly once the album's epic melody fest "Stalingrad" (which is a decent song) comes in, the whole album sort of leaves the thrashing in the dust and almost listens like a nod to Steel Assassin or maybe even a modernized answer to Attacker.

Ultimately, this is the sort of album that could stand to have a few things switched around, namely downplaying the traditional metal elements and melodic balladry a bit in favor of a more straight-line thrashing approach. While instrumentally this band is quite capable of handling both styles, the vocal work leaves a good bit to be desired since the expectation that comes with songs like "Stalingrad" and the power metal infused "Defenders" is something with a bit less grit and a bit more high-ranged luster. While far from being a throwaway album, this definitely takes a back seat to a number of other bands that have a clearer cut approach. Face-ripping terminators are a good image for thrash, but in contrast to Razor's musical take on the James Cameron character, Battalion doesn't quite close the deal on separating the fake skin from the head of the cyborg.

Just look at my titel and you'll immediately get the idea how Battalion sounds. We have the European interpretation of Bay Area riffing with a lot of Kill 'Em All era 'Tallica and thrash groove as Evile did on Enter The Grave but of a lesser quality. Even the vocals have a lot in common with Matt Drake, albeit lightweight and obviously with a slight accent.

The fast tunes 'Thrash Maniacs' and 'Running Alone' are build around simple palm muted chord progressions, an inch short of real riffs and have semi-catchy chorusses consisting of shouting the title several times. The gangshouts on 'Thrash Maniacs' sound an aweful lot like the first two Tankard albums. 'Headbanger' is a mid paced tune but rather unimpressive. Riffs aren't catchy nor is the chorus. The NWOBHM riff in the middle doesn't add much. No, Battalion are far from entertaining when playing slower. 'Wings of a Demon' isn't much better. And a chorus which is nothing more than shouting the title for the fourth time in a row becomes pretty annoying by now. Fortunately the second half of the album is somewhat better and especially the 7 minute epic 'Stalingrad' has more breaks and melody thrown in and surpasses the standard of this album.

The bands consists of able musicians and all songs are performed perfectly. Even the production is crystal clear albeit a bit dry and in your face. And so pretty much everthing about this album is just decent. Of course not much renewal can be expected from the current retro-thrash metal scene but Battalion can be considered generic even for the current 21st century standards. Nothing really mindblowing happens but the material here is certainly entertaining enough if you're shuffling through your thrash collection and incidentally a Battalion song passes by.

I won't go as far as comparing Battalion to the real eighties classics but I'll stick to comparing them to other retro acts. They lack the catchiness of Evile or Fueled By Fire, do not even come close to the aggression of Violator or Merciless Death nor do they manage to combine melody and catchy riffs with speed like Bonded By Blood or Guillotine. So on each aspect or each possible direction the band falls somewhat short and therefor fails to leave a lasting expression.

If you can't ever have enough thrash and also enjoy second rate acts or funny thrash cheesiness and semi-parodyism like Gama Bomb or Lich King, this album might be another decent addition to your collection. For all those out there wanting quality instead of quantity, please get your hands on retro bands like Violater, Bonded By Blood, Guillotine or Fueled By Fire first. Battalion still have a long way to go to get a niche of their own.