Hailing from Philadelphia, PA, Trenchrot’s debut for Dark Descent Records imprint Unspeakable Axe, is an old school death/thrash record that culls from all the old school acts of the late 80s and early 90s from both the US and Europe. Like the recent release from Roarback, it’s a raucous, simple, fun, skeletal affair that makes no bones (sorry) about what it is and what it sounds like.

Asphyx, Death, Entombed, Pestilence, Master, Celtic Frost, Possessed and a healthy dose of thrash can be heard on Necronomic Warfare’s 11 no nonsense songs. it would have been perfectly suited amid some of the recent FDA Rekotz releases (Slaughterday, Harm, Morfin, Skeletal Remains, Chapel of Disease) as it sounds old school in a natural, organic way rather than try too hard or focus or one sound (ie the Stockholm buzz).  It’s got a dusty, musty guitar tone, that sounds great without being too retro or too forced.

The raspy strained vocals of Steve Jansson channel Van Drunen/Schuldiner/Reifert and the riffs simply worship all the aforementioned bands to a T.Whether it’s the killer gallop that surfaces near the end of “Gustav Gun”, the Celtic Frost lope of “The Most Unspeakable of Acts” (replete with Tom G Warrior styled “grunt), doomy, Asphyx-like crawl in “Mad Dogs of War”, killer opening canter of “Sickening Devotion”, quick thrash stab of “Maddening Aggression”  or Bolt Thrower rumble/Entombed trot  of “Necrotic Victory”, it’s all satisfying stuff.

At 48 minutes, the album is a shade too long considering the simplistic style so a little after the eighth track, the Autopsy meets Asphyx -ish 7 1/2 title track, complete with 90 keyboards I start to wane, and things start to repeat, despite the fun I’m generally having. To be fair, the last 3 tracks are added demo tracks from the 2013 “Dragged Down to Hell” demo, so the natural cut off makes sense.

Think of Trenchrot as a cheaper, less star riddled and more raw and older school version of Hail of Bullets, down to the warring themes, but it is certainly worth your time and a nice release for Unspeakable Axe.

 

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