Bullet belts. Combat boots. Leather. Stone washed jeans – Reanimator’s debut EP Thrashin’ the Neighborhood reeks of these things from the moment you push play. Pure, unadulterated ‘80’s thrash metal, and more specifically, the Bay area style. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think you were listening to a thrash album from that time period that just happened to slip under your radar, or that you just fell into a time warp that dropped you off in San Francisco circa 1985. Seriously – these guys don’t fool around trying to reinvent the wheel, nor do they try to incorporate any kind of modern influences such has the overdone hardcore thing – just straight forward beer soaked thrash anthems that worship at the alter of Metallica (the REAL Metallica, mind you), Exodus and Slayer.

From the opening seconds of “Raising the Dead”, the Metallica influence is strongly felt, and is a mainstay throughout the album. Actually, when I first heard that beginning riff, I was instantly reminded of “Motorbreath”, to the point that I thought it sounded like they were ripping that song off, but then it starts to take on it’s own character. The vocals of Petrick Le Pirate come off like a cross between Kreator’s Mille Petrozza and Exodus’ Steve “Zetro” Souza, with a slight punkish vibe, which gives it just a bit of a crossover feel. All 5 other songs here, “Venom of the Beast”, “Roadkill”, “Breathless Birth”, “Black Bones” and “Stuck on the Shores of Hell” (excluding the 18 second “DC Pino” interlude) are played at break neck speeds, and at times, some really great thrash riffs, though the solos are just total shred lacking any variance, which brings Slayer to mind in with their approach to soloing.

Reanimator have released a decent debut EP which will satisfy many a thrasher, but if originality is what your after, you’ll have to look elsewhere, as it seems the only thing these guys want to do is resurrect pure, old school thrash, which is certainly not a bad thing.

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