What we got here is the latest release from Chile’s Hellish and one thing you got to give them props or (most) bands for that matter from South America in general that they play this style of retro thrash, is they have that honesty in their approach and just seem to get things right in the sound and in attitude from the 80s thrash era, but with that being said, this can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

What Hellish do is pay tribute to a lot of bands of the aforementioned heyday of thrash. Hellish has a more malevolent sound from those bands of the past but the atmosphere is still there, also there is big influence of Kreator circa the Endless Pain era. I mention this because there is that darkness in their sound, listen to the vocals of Necromancer and you hear a more evil Mille, with his bass sound rumbling in the background along with the guitars, that are like razors like cutting thru the speakers and suitably chaotic in the solos and with touches of black metal tonality.

The lone instrumental “Arrival of Satan, gives a good demonstration of Venom worship, the drums have that 1-2, 1-2 pacing of early Sodom. In the production, I hear a  small bit of early Darkthrone which adds a touch of blackness to the proceedings. Even in the band pictures you see some Morbid Visions era Sepultura, the CD artwork is dark and ominous which is a welcome diversion from the goat/tank/bullet and horns from typical albums of this genre.

Yeah, the sound is sort of one dimensional and there is not any new ground being explored here but you should know what you’re getting when you buy or even read into what Hellish have to offer, it’s straight and to the point, it’s powerful, it’s dark and it’s a Ep and for a $1 off Bandcamp you can’t go wrong with this bit of good thrashing fun.

[Visit the band's website]

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