While most of these thrash “revivalist” are culling their influences from the 80’s Bay Area scene, Las Vegas’ Avenger of Blood are content with borrowing from the darker, heavier and death metal tinged sounds of Slayer, Dark Angel and the German scene – but Kreator in particular.
Actually, the similarities between early Kreator and Avenger of Blood are staggering – from the nasty riffs and gritty guitar tone to the raw, old school production – this young band has got it nailed. Of course the most striking similarity of the two is AoB’s vocalist Eric (last name?) being a dead ringer for Mille Petrozza – so much so, you could re-record those early Kreator albums with Eric and no one should be the wiser.
There’s really no point in dissecting Death Brigade song by song, as anyone familiar with early German thrash (and really, what metal fan isn’t?), knows exactly what to expect – a relentless and merciless speed driven thrash beating from the word go until the very last note has played.
Of course, plenty of people will immediately dismiss AoB as a generic, unoriginal copy of Kreator, and that may be true, but there’s no skirting around the fact that they pull it off convincingly and excellently, and honestly, I don’t see how any fan of Kreator, Sodom, Destruction or Slayer could simply dismiss them without a few serious spins and a head-banging induced headache. Thrash!
