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Abandoned hail from that fertile breeding ground of thrash metal, Germany, but unlike some of their famous compatriots they openly pursue the American Bay Area style in their thoroughly back-to-basics approach to thrash metal. Thrash is notorious for sticking to a formula and bashing out pummelling riffs, and Abandoned unashamedly avoid wandering from this blueprint. Even for a thrash album though, a tad more variety wouldn’t be too much to ask, as the trend is very much set from the first track until the last. Nonetheless, Abandoned are clearly comfortable in their skin, and follow the tried and tested thrash recipe with every note, with plenty of nice dual guitar parts and blistering drumming. There are occasions when the songs jump out at the listener a bit more, such as the track Holy Terror, and perhaps some more adventurous vocals would help this to happen more often. Thrash as a genre exhibits some greatly original vocalists, and it is often this aspect which gives a band character – perhaps Abandoned could explore the vocals as a way to define their sound a bit more. There are some catchy vocal lines (like the chorus of Take the Spell), and more of these might help to add punch. There is really nothing at fault with this album, although it also has to be said that the moments when really exciting riffs leap out are few and far between. Each track is of a consistent standard, but after eleven songs the typical guitar and drum combination can wear out a bit. It would be good to hear more slow breaks – so often the crowning feature of an excellent thrash song – as they do feature, but are quickly buried by the typical thrash riffing again. It seems that the key word in this review has been “more”: the band clearly has the credentials to lay down some crushing thrash metal, but it would benefit from more character and more variation, which is still doable within a thoroughly ‘old school’ framework.
| Tracklist |
| 1. The Oncoming Storm |
| 2. Return To One |
| 3. Take The Spell |
| 4. Holy Terror |
| 5. Breed Machine |
| 6. Phoenix Rise |
| 7. Pay The Dues |
| 8. Demonic |
| 9. Hell Is Home |
| 10. You're Going Down |
| 11. Nightmares |
: 48.08
| Buy other Abandoned albums |
