Coldsteel reformed last year and are a melodic thrash band from L.I. NY and their singer, Troy Norr and I go back to knowing each other for close to 25 years. I won’t give you a history lesson, I’ll save that for my interview with him forthcoming. I’m here to review their new ep, America Idle that has 5 songs that are some of their most intense music they have ever written. The ep starts off with the scorching cleverly named title track, “American Idle” and this track rips. The song is super catchy and the bass guitar and guitar leads coming through fantastic. The tune has some personal touches as well, with speeches interwoven towards the end of the song, one of them being Troy’s daughter. Very well done and it’s intense.

What is immediately evident is the production, hello digital age? Crisp, punchy and the drums pound on this. One thing that is ever present with Coldsteel is the melodic as well as harsh singing style of Norr. Into his 40s now I was surprised he could still reach those higher notes, so that was killer to hear. The ever present gang styled vocals, of the musicians, is also excellent on this, sounding similar to Anthrax in certain parts. “Blood Secrets” is up next and is my favorite song. Heavy, fast and the catchy rhythm section is accentuated on this song to such a degree you will not be able to stop headbanging and singing along, as well as playing some air drums, yes I’m guilty of that. The tune has a slight power metallish feel to it with its galloping beat and the vocal lines are incredibly catchy. If you remember “You Lose!”, from back in the day, you will enjoy the updated sound on here.

From here on out, if you were a fan before, you will see that, like a fine wine, Coldsteel has aged remarkably well in their songwriting ability and that thrash metal can be played with plenty enough melody, yet still retain the attitude necessary for this style of metal they play. The cd packaging is exceptional, equipped with liner notes, lyrics, photos and a brilliant cover to go along with the ep name. I know some of the readers on here may want their music brutal all the time, but if you do like well played thrash metal, with solos and excellent song writing you need to pick America Idle up. You can then hear that a bunch of 40 somethings can thrash just as much as the youngsters out there and plenty of NY fuck you attitude to go along with it!

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