In some strange way, I think it's important for their to be a second tier of thrash metal bands. It's part of thrash's rich history: there wasn't always just the big four and the runners up. There was CYCLONE TEMPLE. There was HEATHEN. There was NASTY SAVAGE. These bands are important in their own way: they were like the bookends that held up the basics while other bands progressed ahead of them. But, man, does generic thrash ever sound good, always. So, it's with that apologist attitude flying high that we explore this debut album from Jordan's EXILE, who are definitely living it large on the second tier. Chalk it up to a clunky approach to songwriting that stilts and stops instead of flows and bangs, drumming that is strange in that it is great most of the time but awkward sometimes, and an overall feeling of oppression and over-lengthiness that pulls this one from the upper echelon. But they're trying, and they're getting there: it's like KREATOR-style Teutonic thrash with a great tight snare cracking through it all, tunes like 'Iron Hands' worth sticking around for late in the album, epic and memorable. And the fun little joke tunes are a nod to NUCLEAR ASSAULT, which should make any old-school thrasher smile a bit.
Content 2012 Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles
Design and Programming 2012 Grafang
