Description

Brutal, raw, uncompromising thrash metal from North Carolina. This quartet will probably be most recognized for their vocalist, who uses a very gruff and deep timbre which is constantly bordering on a growl without going over the edge. Bands like Demolition Hammer and Rigor Mortis were known to employ such a tactic, but here the patterns are more rugged and percussive, almost like Max Cavalera circa 1989-1991 without the accent, or the front men of a couple local New England bands we used to have in the late 80s (Formicide, Subjugator, etc). I can’t say that I was the biggest fan of this style, since the rigorous barking rarely breeds any character or inherent melody, but at least you get used to it after about 3-4 tracks, and to be fair, the man sounds like a thug, and there is nothing wrong with that on an album like this. Far more of a highlight for me were the guitars, which cycle through blistering speed/thrash licks and mid-paced, moshing breakouts. All pretty West Coast, with a clear lineage from bands like Slayer, Exodus and Forbidden, but there were riffs here that also brought to mind Australians Mortal Sin in their 80s prime, perhaps even a little Anthrax or Nasty Savage. Even better, these guys have a phenomenal guitarist in terms of his leads, each of them was engaging and added to its respective track. There are only seven tracks, but they’re substantial enough to duke it out for around 37 minutes. At any rate, after the smoke cleared, and my neck stopped twitching, I would be remiss to not admit that I had a good enough time listening through Eugenic Death’s debut. It’s nothing amazing, and it doesn’t set out to be, just an honest pile of thrashing that will hold some appeal to other skilled 80s style thrashers of late, like Havok, Merciless Death and Bonded by Blood. Protective headgear optional. The track Epitaph features Troy Seele from Iced Earth on guitar

Track list:
1. Crimes Against Humanity
2. Indictive Deity
3. Medication Time
4. The Devil Waits
5. Plagued By Ignorance
6. Epitaph-with Troy Seele
7. The Practice