Ravager (GER) - Thrashletics (2019)^{Release ID: 34707}

Germany's Ravager caught my eye due to the frankly awful artwork (sorry Timon Kokott) that was only rivalled by the equally poor choice of title for their sophomore album.  initially I had thought them to be South American but they are just five Germans with some awful concepts around art and marketing.  Thankfully they play a frenzied style of thrash metal that reminds me of Exodus and the horrid packaging just not bear any resemblance to the musicianship on show. 

Whilst most certainly not unique, Ravager are certainly passionate about what they do and give a fair old go to trying to capture that 80's thrash ethos as they largely race through nine tracks of average sounding thrash metal that strays just the right side of speed metal in places.  They are not afraid to slow things down though and they can most certainly play their instruments.  The longest track on here clocks in at just a shade under nine minutes and is probably a stretch too far for them overall as it does come off as a bit preachy.  However, it does showcase some versatility in the bands ability and they do actually structure Slaughter of Innocents reasonably well.   Pointing their criticisms firmly in the direction of politics and society at large the band also take their time to have a pop at war also.  Oddly, for such a clearly sci-fi/horror driven band (in terms of their artwork at least) Thrashletics is lacking in these departments and so the album is less fun than I was hoping for given the cover art.

It most certainly is not flawless thrash metal and probably will not get much rotation at the Vinny Mansion but it does hold its own for forty minutes, sticking to a tempo and trajectory that it sets out from track two onwards (the opening track is a dull and pointless acoustic number).  As I say, the fun element is a bit lacking for me and the album is strongest when they are just letting go a little more on tracks such as Pit Stop...Don't Stop in the Pit and Mindblender.  Their more serious themed stuff can still rip though (see Kill For Nothing) but on the whole I just feel there is something lacking over the whole album to make it really standout.