STRUCK A NERVE

There are times when pretty words are in no way sufficient to sum up the intense adrenaline rush that the best thrash metal provides. Hailing from the UK, which has never had quite the same reputation as America or Germany when it comes to this genre, STRUCK A NERVE have emerged, fully formed and utterly ferocious. Self-titled for reasons of directness and simplicity, this is a debut album that will make thrash kids of any generation feel duty bound to trash their immediate surroundings and run howling into the streets. Fuck me, this is a lightning bolt of thrash energy that wants blood and will surely get it, by the gallon.

With current and former members of UK thrash mavericks SHRAPNEL in their ranks, STRUCK A NERVE clearly know what they are doing. Opener "Nocturnal Terror" slams down a challenge to any other bands currently plowing the same musical furrow. Uniformly fast, furious and dangerously pissed off, these songs dispense with indulgent nonsense like evolution or cross-pollination, preferring instead to deliver the goods with maximum aggression and a gleeful disregard for anything other than pure thrash mayhem. "Nocturnal Terror" makes its point in under three minutes, and then we are onto the next brutal blast of speed and spite. "Struck A Nerve" is a psychotic thrill ride. "Parade of Violence" does the same. And on it goes, entirely bereft of compromise or any semblance of subtlety, kicking and punching its way through an exhilarating half hour of ruthless thuggery, with frontman Aarran Tucker playing the part of militant master of ceremonies, with the visceral roar of a man possessed (by thrash). Firmly rooted in the no-holds-barred school of metal thought, this is aimed squarely at fans of SLAYER, DARK ANGEL and early KREATOR: bands that thrashed hard and gave not one shit about commerciality.

STRUCK A NERVE are a four-man celebration of that irresistible, out-of-control feeling that fans get when they are swimming in a life-threatening pit, circular or otherwise. When they finally decide to drop to a punishing mid-paced tempo on the brilliant "Last Eyes See All", these profoundly snotty hooligans still have all faders pushed into the red. Great riffs are everywhere, and all locked into a precise, devastating framework of fury. As timeless as it is terrifying, "Struck A Nerve" is only interested in causing havoc, and every element has been honed to malevolent perfection. From the grim and grimy "Inside the Torture Fortress" to the rabid speed freakery of "The Knife That Scrapes the Bone", this is a debut album that demands attention. Hard as nails and hell-bent on smashing the unholy fuck out of anything that strays into its bilious path, this is thrash as it was always meant to be played, and the potential here is colossal. Turn it up, smash everything, and then play it again. STRUCK A NERVE have nailed it first time out and we will all be picking up shards of skull and broken teeth for the foreseeable future. More of this, please.