CONQUEST – End Of Days

Do you remember the 1999 movie, “End Of Days”? Well after hearing Conquest’s new album, one cannot help but find a shared theme of both album and movie that is religion. Conquest is not indulging in the idea of a mystical battle between Heaven and Hell, yet they preach about sins against God and that the punishment is due.  All the written words are brought out with a furious devastating force of Thrash / Heavy Metal á la Metal Church and company in fact, one could say that Conquest are a rougher version of the late era of Metal Church. Get ready for some bestial pounding in the face because this ride to Hell is going to be tough and rough.

The blast became reality 20 years ago in the Midwest, St. Louis, USA with the true veins of the Old School Bay Area Thrash scene that is mixed with classic Heavy Metal bombardment.  The band was assembled by vocalist / guitarist, Derrick Brumbley, when he was 15 years old and it’s considered his life project. Between 1988-1989 two demos where released that brought the band’s first achievement in 1993 and that was its first album, Wicked Ways, under the Gutter Records label.

Two years later, The Killing Time was unleashed under the band’s independent hands. This EP first introduced the song “Feel My Pain”, which is also the opener of their new album 14 year later. After The Killing Time came a shower of albums: Rage (Between 1997-2000) , Damnation (a self release in 2001) , No Boundaries (2003 , another self release). The EP, First Blood, released in 2005, had brought the band back to a label distribution – Mausoleum Records.

In 2006 , End Of Days was born in its first edition under a different label , Metal Factory , and presented an almost different set list of songs , only few of them were taken to the re-release of the album in the summer of 2008. The refined End Of Days came under the band’s current label, Dark Star Records and it presents the early edition’s songs along with some renewed old songs between 1995-2000. The production on the new version of the album was enhanced and the turnout was a true fantastic quality sound work. With End Of Days, Conquest shows why Thrash / Heavy Metal is the ultimate choice to bang your head while sometimes you can calm yourself with a ballad or be blown away by a slow tempo juggernaut.

Conquest weren’t always Thrash Metal , they tried all sorts of styles around it , like Power, Heavy and even a heavier spit Hard Rock, but they had never left Metal in any way. End Of Days is a demonstration of power, melody with an undeniable heaviness. In addition, you will find an acoustic / electric tune which will show that behind the black curtain there are also feelings. As Bay Area influenced Thrashers, Conquest presents crushing, gloomy, heavy riffs channeled through fast and slow tempos, punching drumming of sheer speed and accuracy, bombastic screaming vocals of melody and brutality alike (and Derrick Brumbley did it without a shred of growling – only with demonic effects). All these factors make End Of Days a prize for Metal Church, early Vicious Rumors and Agent Steel fans and admirers across the world.

The cache of highlights of this release is filled with various hard hitting stuff. The anti-suicide bombers, “Feel My Pain” , is the beginning of the mania. From the first shot of the double bass through the hammering of the gates of Hell – You can almost feel the fire burning you alive.

“Secrets Of My Life” a nice Old School banger with speed and power, very much resembles Metal Church in their late 80s era. “Killer Machine” like Brumbley said: “Is Conquest” and it sure is – almost 6 minutes of total destructive, Thrash Metal played as an undying killing machine.

“Annihilation Complete” , a old song that was revised and was turned into a Speed Metal aggressor – the brother of “Killer Machine” with a wah-wah solo from Hell. “Revelation is an Heavy / Thrash Metal epic with not too many complexities – a true classic song also in the vein of Metal Church.

“Forever Free” is the hymn for all you Metalheads out there – beware of the beast and listen to this show of force. “Empty” is a well done ballad of true artistic nature with a great vocal display and a very nice solo both electric and acoustic. Finally, there is the speeding killer “End Of Days” – the evil breeder of brutality – a mind blowing classic to be.

Conquest came to shred and they did it with End Of Days that is another example and reminder that Old School Thrash Metal is still alive and breathing – so watch out for more from these guys because heaviness never dies.