Hatriot’s fourth album The Vale of Shadows continues to show, as their last album, From Days unto Darkness, they can stand on their own without Cody (bass/Vox) and Nick’s (drums) father Zetro Souza fronting the band. For those who are unaware Zetro is the singer for Exodus and after getting booted from Exodus after the Tempo of the Damned album partnered with his kids and fronted Hatriot on their first 2 albums. After rejoining Exodus Zetro left Hatriot to concentrate on Exodus.  Cody always layed down some vocals on the Hatriot albums but when the third album dropped no drop off as Cody emulates his Dad to a T. It’s so scary it sounds like Zet.

So on The Vale of Shadows Hatriot soldiers on and even streamlined songs do not detract but makes the songs punch you harder in the gut. For those who have not heard Hatriot they are Exodus on crack with some death metal vocals once in a while.  The use of blast beats makes this band super powerful and a scorching brutal thrash band. 11 songs in 43 minutes “Horns & Halos” drives the point home as leaner and meaner. Opening with a nice speedy opening with killer scream. Then Zetro, I mean Cody, screaming his ass off as some death metal vocals are doubled over the Exodus inspired vocals. The slow-down is ruthless before some killer guitar solos erupt having more of a traditional heavy metal sound. Great opener.

“The Hate Inside” has a great crunchy opening that goes back ‘n forth to mid paced moments and then groovier moments. This is a pit inducing song with the 55 second ripping into a thrash speed right out of 1989 – terrific. Some nice bass guitar rattling that has the at swooping in for a solo and Cody letting out a nice death metal growl.

“Forceful Balance” brings back the intensity in full force. After erupting into a brutal thrash attack the 20 second part is the Holy Shit moment with Cody letting out some isolated vocals then crash bang wallop right into the monstrous blast beat. This repeats a few times with a great guitar solo taking center stage over the blistering blast beats. The 1.20 slow-down is ruthless and erupt. This makes the groove moment ferocious before the boasting and soloing takes your head, removes it, uses it as a bowling ball and throws a monstrous strike splintering all the wooden pins from here to Timbuktu.

“Verminious and Vile” had a creepy AF opening with female vocals. They fade right into a gargantuan blast beat with vocals starting immediately. Seriously if you’re spooning gobs of food down your gulliver you will spit out the food just as fast as Nick is blasting.  The title track is the longest song at a bit over five and a half minutes it begins as a crunchy groove before a vintage thrash beat comes in that capitulated me into the hemisphere with the ridiculous blast beat. This is brutality of the highest order and Kevin Patterson and Kosta V. showing themselves as a formidable guitar duo. The title track is relentless.

Hatriot’s The Vale of Shadows shines and shows the band can hang with the big boys. This is modern brutal thrash with some death metal influences and the rhythm section is top notch on this album.  The production rips and the choice to streamline their approach makes the songs a bit more memorable and that’s not a slight on their previous work.  It’s just a lot more impactful and deliberate on this album. This is one of the best thrash albums for 2022 and if you want your thrash with more bite and aggression than the average thrash bands look no further than Hatriot.