May 2022 Feature Release - The Pit Edition

Another month flies by, which means it's time to select a new feature release for The Pit. As it's my turn to choose, I've gone with Ritual Carnage's Every Nerve Alive album from 2000. I must admit that I've only given it a passing listen or two over the years, but it left an impression on me. This is a good excuse to revisit it, and I hope you'll join me in checking it out.

As usual, it would be great to read what you all think of it either below or in review format.

https://metal.academy/releases/12141

I'm sure you already know what I think of this release without having to wait for my synopsis Ben as it's clearly right up my alley. I first encountered this Japanese thrash metal outfit on the tail end of my tape trading years through their debut album "The Highest Law" & seem to recall that it took up the B-side of a cassette that had Witchery's "Restless & Dead" album on the other side if I'm not mistaken. I remember quite liking it although I don't think it commanded too many replays after the first few listens. It was enough to have me flicking through this sophomore album when I returned to metal in 2009 though & I found "Every Nerve Alive" to more than satisfy my thrash metal itch by well & truly living up to its title. I haven't returned to it since for one reason or another but needless to say that I'm very glad I have now because this record poses a strong challenge to Sabbat in regard to the Japanese thrash crown.

You won't find anything too original here. In fact, you'll regularly find yourself picking out riffs that have been copped from Slayer, Kreator or Dark Angel albums but the material is played with conviction & authenticity throughout & it's clear that Ritual Carnage have a deep understanding of the classic thrash metal ethos. Despite many people online wanting to tag "Every Nerve Alive" as death/thrash there really isn't much death metal here apart from one section of "Escape From the Light" which reminds me very much of Bolt Thrower. The vocals are certainly gruff but I don't think that overcomes the fact that musically Ritual Carnage rarely stray from the thrash metal blueprint. They admittedly champion a pretty brutal thrash sound though & one that draws equally from the more extreme US bands & the rawer Teutonic scene. Closing track "Far East Aggressors" is the only track that deviates from that model much, instead opting for a more simplistic attempt at speed metal & unfortunately failing in this endeavor but I really dig the rest of "Every Nerve Alive" with "Death, Judgement, Fate" being the clear highlight & representing a truly classic Japanese thrash metal track in its own right. Despite some pretty cool guitar solos, the riff structures & drumming can often sound a little basic but if you enjoy the more extreme end of thrash then you can do a lot worse than "Every Nerve Alive".

For fans of Slayer, Kreator & Morbid Saint.

4/5

P.S. Has anyone heard the subsequent Ritual Carnage albums? I've never ventured further forward than this up until now. Are they worth checking out?

I have been listening to thrash metal for closing in on forty years now, but for the longest time I stuck with the more well-known acts like The Big Four, The German Three and a select few others like Celtic Frost, Dark Angel and Onslaught. Since joining Metal Academy though, I have been introduced to a lot of excellent lesser known, underground acts and releases that have considerably expanded my enjoyment of the genre, the monthly features being responsible for quite a few of them and this month's feature from Japan's Ritual Carnage is just the latest in a long list of these.

With their hi-octane approach Ritual Carnage rev it up and leap out of the blocks, accelerating quickly to high speed riffing and barely ever let their foot off the gas with only the penultimate track, Escape From the Light, offering any real slowing of the pace. Personally I feel that track would have been better left until the end as it would have rounded the speedfest off better as a closer rather than expecting the actual closer, Far East Aggressors, to pick up the pace again (and suffering for it, I feel). There is loads to like about Every Nerve Alive, which in itself seems a more than apt title for the music contained within. The riffs are king here and although there is very little by way of originality, they are executed with passion and integrity and are intended to tempt you to rupture your neck muscles! Vocalist Damian Montgomery (aka Nasty Danny) has a great harsh growl that fits the aggressive nature of the riffing perfectly and only really dips on the aforementioned slower track, Escape From the Light, where his clean singing is exposed a little.

The band as a whole is exceedingly tight and the bass and drums solidly support the breakneck pacing without doing anything extraordinary. The solos are fine I suppose, but are the least remarkable part of the album for me, quite often just passing me by and unless I was really concentrating I didn't notice them so much until they had actually finished! However, overall this is a very good slab of energetic and brutal-sounding thrash that I would date around '91/'92 if I didn't know it was from 2000 when thrash was supposedly dead. I guess Ritual Carnage never got the memo!

P.S. Has anyone heard the subsequent Ritual Carnage albums? I've never ventured further forward than this up until now. Are they worth checking out?

Well Daniel, I listened to the follow-up, The Birth of Tragedy, this morning and I can't recommend it in all honesty. It sounds like a completely different band. The lyrics are all political post-9/11, anti-western and US imperialism shit that sounds really dated. The vocal style is more crossover-sounding, the riffs are derivative and forgettable and the solos are all over the place. Ritual Carnage seem to have left the integrity of Every Nerve Alive at the door with this one and have just turned out the same shit as any number of second-rate, post-millenial thrash revivalists. (2.5/5)

Far from being regular in appearing on my thrash metal rotation, Every Nerve Alive is one of those albums that whilst I recognise the functional quality of, I find very little in the way of need to revisit it.  There is much to enjoy on this the bands sophomore release as they hack their way through eleven tracks of rampant thrash metal.  Capturing the very essence of thrash metal throughout this record is an absolute joy to listen to whilst it is on.  This sounds like a dumb statement I know, however I feel this is relevant as to why I rarely revisit the album.  I put it on the other week for the first time in a while and was instantly caught up in how aggressive and utterly relentless it was, how it did not necessarily do anything new and simply did an established blueprint really well.  However, unlike Slayer or Kreator, as soon as the record was done, it was gone from the memory banks more or less instantly.  A right romp it may be for forty-three minutes but its longevity is really short and is the kind of album that I can only enjoy in the moment as it leaves no distinct aftertaste that makes me savour any of the content beyond the duration of the meal.  There may well be a period of me patting my stomach after this meal but certainly zero recollection of why it was so good until I go back and order the same thing again.  For this reason I am knocking my score down to a 3.5/5 from the 4 I previously applied to it.