Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Sonic Assault - Neon-Lit Metropolis (2022)

Sonic Assault's chaotic form of thrash metal lends itself to the familiar territories of Voivod only with a less progressive edge.  Having stumbled across them during a random Spotify session I was at first taken a back by their changes of pace and direction and often jumbled sounding compositions.  It has admittedly taken me several listens to unpick their sound and in all honesty I am not entirely sure if I am there or not yet.  To even begin to understand it though you do have to learn about the theme of the album to fully appreciate its merits.

With a cyberpunk theme set in a grim and dystopian future world full of oppression, segregation and what one scribe describes as "technocratic subjugation", Neon-Lit Metropolis is full of progressive thrash that twists and turns in keeping with this dystopian cityscape that is depicted in the artwork.  With wild tempos and barbaric riffing done with a lean and technical endeavour, the album manages to balance a crude sense of melodicism with jarring and yet harmonic dissonance.  In a way it has a heaviness that is driven just as much through pure extreme intensity as it is through any weight of riffs.

The delirious vocal approach is slightly over the top, even in these modern times.  They occupy a hardcore-like space at times with a kind of bm shriek placed on the edge of them to disorientate the listener further.  My point is that they do tend to take over a bit on more than one occasion despite being a good fit overall to start with.  On an album that seems to thrive on dysfunction it is odd to call out any individual element for being too much, Neon-Lit Metropolis is testimony to the fact that technically clever does not equate to boring structures, in fact the exact opposite.  Varying intros, pace and content makes for an exciting listen even if they do tend to drop into the same blinding riff patterns from time to time.

Self-released and for all I know self-produced, Sonic Assault are competent musicians playing a style of thrash that takes the more extreme elements of Vektor without getting into the wanky sections.  I am not entirely sold though, purely because it takes so much of my attention to fully listen to it.  These repeated listens do reward though as excerpts of clarity shine through the chaos every now and again to keep me focused on something linear at least.  They can play as well as they can dazzle and disorientate which over time will make them a lethal band on future releases.  What we need for now is more Coercive Augmentations and less Voices, their material clearly working better over the longer song format.

Definitely a band to watch in the future.