We can confirm; this is a 46-minute bludgeoning across the back of the head on the Thrash scene in Ireland.
Opening the fury is ‘White Death’, with a fast-paced and ferocious beat supplied heartily by drummer Tom Moylan. One thing that you can hear from the get-go is the no-nonsense approach to the riffs and vocals from Eoin Clarke and Jeff Henandez.
Bassist, Spencer O’Brien backs this up and the solid (and breathtakingly accurate) teamwork here is a testament to the trojan effort made throughout the entire album. It reeks of homage to the great thrash titans that were around in the 1980s, falling into the veins of: Kill ‘Em All-era Metallica, Bonded By Blood-era Exodus, Spreading the Disease/Among the Living-era Anthrax, Show No Mercy/Haunting the Chapel-era Slayer, Practice What You Preach-era Testament and many other thrash monsters too numerous to name.
The stamp (or boot-print) of originality in this album has also a very fresh and raw sound. Saint Slaughter have made this album part of their own take on the thrash family tree, and deserve a hefty branch on it. ‘Led to Treason’, ‘Lambs to the Slaughter’, and ‘Inglorious’ pound the eardrums in such a way that you cannot help but bang your head.
The machine-gunning from Moylan, the shred-work from Hernandez (and surely there are scorch marks on the fretboard), gruff and angry vocals from Clarke and furious bassing from O’Brien make the listener really grab the air and get lost in the sounds created by true fans of the Thrash metal anthology stemming from the Bay-area thrash scene in the 1980s.
Saint Slaughter has always had pride in their work and they should be able to rest on their laurels here, but that won’t happen. Theres too much anger and aggression for merely one album. You can tell that there’s plenty left in the tank when you reach ‘Resist the System’ and ‘Waltz with the Devil’.
‘Deep in Shadows’ has a slower start and a bitch of a buildup, but that is soon replaced by a ripper of a riff from Hernandez, once he gets the signal from Moylan, who supplies a crafty 1,2,3,4 on the cymbal before all hell opens up. ‘Thrasher Crash’ has that old-school Slayer touch, excellently displayed by all 4 band members.
‘We Were Born’ and ‘Ride Like Hell’ close it off and if your head isn’t sore by the end of this album, you didn’t bang it nearly half hard enough. Plus, the neighbours should have called the cops by now for a loud noise complaint.
Saint Slaughter hammer this album home and make as much noise as possible. It is a superb debut album and one worthy on the shelves of every true thrash fan. Skills aside, the lads should be very proud of themselves for this little ditty, and like I said – there is plenty left in the tank. How about a few more like this lads, eh? Please??
4.5/5
Track of Choice: Thrasher Crash.
Stream the full album here.
Words: Shaun Martin
www.overdrive.ie 2024
