• facebook
  • twitter
  • rss

FATALITY

Metal as Hell! (Chapter 1)

Self-Released
rating icon 6 / 10

Track listing:

01. Terminal Aggression
02. Bring Back The Days
03. Almost Broke
04. Gritface
05. Shock Treatment
06. It's Devil's Night
07. Metal As Hell!
08. Are You Ready To Rock!? (Bonus Track)

Northern Ireland's FATALITY has the right idea when it comes to the performance of old school thrash; it is about making it as sizzling as it is fun. To that end, "Metal as Hell! (Chapter 1)" is a joyous ride down memory lane. If it weren't for the arrangement missteps and a style mimicry that is a little too overt at times, the quartet might even be a "next big thing in old-school thrash" contender.

Overall, "Metal as Hell! (Chapter 1)" is competently performed thrash with a handful of strong riffs, capable solos, and a few memorable choruses. The approach is blatant early METALLICA (the riffs and solos) and MEGADETH (Tom Morrison's Mustaine talk/sing vocals),which on the one hand is likeable, but on the other quite awkward at times. "Terminal Aggression" and "Bring Back the Day" are pretty good tunes, the former complete with a classic backing-shout chorus, the latter boasting a white-hot '80s METALLICA riff and lyrics lamenting the new generation of faux-metal girly men. Actually, none of these are tracks are "bad," with the exception of bonus track "Are you Ready to Rock?!" Things just shuffle toward middling when the MEGADETH/METALLICA worship becomes excessive (e.g. "It's Devil's Night" and the "Kill 'em All" riff on "Shock Treatment") and when the arrangements are underdeveloped or inclusive of marginally disjointed sections (again "Shock Treatment", as well as "Almost Broke" and "Gritface"). Although there is nothing wrong with a live-sounding studio recording (pensiveness is an atypical attribute of vintage thrash),the bolts holding together the rhythm section could use a tightening. And that bonus track… Poking fun at hair metal with double-entendre lyrics (I presume anyway) is all well and good and I get that it is not to be taken too seriously, but the song is still awful.

In the end though "Metal as Hell! (Chapter 1)" is a fun and energetic listen. The spirit and intensity is there and things should get progressively better for the band. The refrigerator magnet that came with the disc turned out to be rather handy too; that's got to be worth at least a 10th of a point, don't you think?

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).