The Pit Release of the Year Contenders thread
Hi everyone.
With only one month to go until we announce our release of 2021 for each clan (which will once again be based on our site ratings), Ben & I thought it'd be worth highlighting five key releases contending for each title in order to give everyone the chance to investigate some (or all) of them this month if you wish to. These were some of the more highly regarded releases in the thrash, speed & groove metal space last year:
Steel Bearing Hand - "Slay In Hell" {US thrash metal}
Enforced - "Kill Grid" {US thrash metal}
Nekromantheon - "Visions of Trismegistos" {Norwegian thrash metal}
Cryptosis - "Bionic Swarm" {Dutch tech thrash}
Evil - "Possessed By Evil" {Japanese blackened thrash}
Evil's Possessed By Evil was the only one I missed this year and while I enjoyed it because it's very different than the rest of The Pit offerings this year, I wouldn't call it great. Steel Bearing Hand is my obvious winner; hell it's probably my most played 2021 album due to its short and fun length.
The newest Witches Hammer, Devourer of the Dead deserves the spotlight too, and while I have Demoniac's So It Goes on my 2021 list due to a weird release date technicality that I'm going to stand by and I think everyone should check it out, I don't expect it to be updated to be a part of the 2021 listings. I should probably put a post in for Devourer of the Dead to be added.
Cryptosis - Bionic Swarm
I'm returning to this now after a gap of nine months from it's release as I failed to connect with it at all first time around due to it's technical edge, me not being the biggest fan of so-called "technical metal". Now that I have given it chance to settle in I am much better disposed towards it than I was last spring. Yes, there is a degree of technicality to the Dutchmen's thrashery, but it isn't as wanky as some technical thrash bands and the tracks still do what I like thrash tracks to do which is provide sufficient neck-wrenching aggression to facilitate headbanging overload. The musicianship is excellent and the songwriting is great, as I said, it does provide a degree of technicality but never loses sight of the fact that it is first and foremost a thrash metal record and ensures that it delivers on that front before incorporating the technicality into the songs.
I love Laurens Houvast's vocals, they are plenty aggressive and just the right side of ragged to give the impression of a singer pouring his all into his art. The riffs are sufficiently memorable and are tight as fuck with not a single note out of place, no matter how fast they are played and the soloing (always a bellweather in thrash metal) is impressively white hot. So with these thrash fundamentals firmly in place I am more than willing to overlook the odd bit of technical bollocks as it in no way detracts from what I turn to a thrash album for. Better late to the party than never to party at all I guess.
What is of particular interest is the incorporation of that old favourite of 70's prog outfits, the mellotron. It is actually utilised extremely well and doesn't impinge on or blunt the album's aggressiveness in any way. It is most obviously felt, I think, on Prospect of Immortality, which seems to be the track everyone is talking about due to it's slower pace and it's more diverse and even proggy feel. Ostensibly the album is a science fiction concept album, which is no problem for me at all as I love both sci-fi and concept albums, but in all truth I don't think this should be a deal breaker for those who don't as it still works merely as a damn fine thrash album. Nearly everyone is comparing this to Vektor and I will concede to those who know the work of the Arizonans better than I, but I prefer this to Vektor as this just thrashes harder.
So, to summarise my thoughts, this is a great thrash album that happens to have a bit of a technical bent and some interesting use of keyboards that enhance the band's thrash credentials rather than detracting from them. More of this, please.
All that said, I think I still have Steel Bearing Hand in the lead (it's damn close though!)
Nekromantheon is the clear winner for me, as good as Enforced and Cryptosis were last year it is Nekromantheon who edge it. Didn't get the hype around Steel Bearing Hand in all honesty and haven't heard Evil in fairness. Might get round to it at the weekend.