SAVAGE MESSIAH – Insurrection Rising

With the rapid outburst of Old School Thrash Metal, the UK scene, as the first and original playground for Metal, has some strong thrashy aces on its Metalized deck of bands. This scene, which includes classic comebacks as Sabbat and Onslaught, embraces several of the younger acts, that from what it seems, till the present, their future is appearing to be brighter as their material grows every passing year. Old School newcomers such as Gama Bomb from Newry, Northern Ireland, Warpath from Swansea, Wales, Evile from Huddersfield, England and their neighbors Savage Messiah from London, England are a fraction of the few examples on how Thrash Metal is being reviewed through British eyes.

Savage Messiah, has become one of the UK’s strongest Thrash Metal acts ever since they released their first striking EP, Spitting Venom, back in 2007 (the year of their formation). The band is the sole baby of vocalist/guitarist Dave Silver, who formed Savage Messiah after the demise of his former band Headless Cross. The works on the first EP were pretty much on the shoulders of Silver, with the aid of Andy Faulkner, the bass player of the old English Heavy Metal outfit Siam, as producer and other individuals such as Richard Goss, the vocalist/guitarist of Warpath. With the success of Spitting Venom, Savage Messiah were picked and signed by Candlelight Records and this year they came up with their debut full length album, Insurrection Rising. Without a doubt, something is rising all right and it’s huge – This is a hell of a British monstrosity.

Insurrection Rising is an immense showcase on how strapping and destructive British Thrash Metal can be. Savage Messiah’s use of Thrash Metal, as an influence, is rather similar to the American Bay Area scene and to bands such as Testament, Heathen and Metallica. Lest one forgets that almost all of the British scene take their pride on deriving their influence also from their own two local gods Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Through their top of the line sound production can be found similarities to the old habits of their local peers, Carcass and to the Melodic Death Metal act, Arch Enemy.

Speaking of the production, Savage Messiah were awarded to work with one of the finest producers in the business and Grammy nominee, Chris Tsangarides, who became famous on his masterful works on Judas Priest’s Painkiller, Bruce Dickinson’s Tattooed Millionaire and for his share of production for Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath and recently also Biomechanical, the extreme Progressive Metal act. With this info, one can straightforwardly presume that the setup for Insurrection Rising is no less than perfect, so that the only thing that remains is the band’s efforts.

Savage Messiah’s material is mostly American influenced. Even through the powerful modernized production, you would notice the classical never-ending riffs, simplistic melodies and the mighty solos of Thrash played on classy albums as Master Of Puppets, And Justice For All, The Legacy, Practice What You Preach and Breaking The Silence. It’s funny that Savage Messiah, which is a part of a country that developed Metal and brought Metal into the US, is being highly influenced by the same bands that were deeply influenced by their English Heavy Metal elders and took them as their musical modals. With the mallet of Old School American Metal on their side, Savage Messiah created astonishing to “classic” pounders like the Thrash/Heavy Metal megaton bomb of “He Who Laughs Last”, Testament emblazoned “Enemy Image (Dehumanization)” and “Corruption X”, silent yet deadly and emotive in the likeness of “In Absence Of Liberty” and skull crushing molesting “The Nihilist Machine”.

In general, for every Thrashead who likes his cup of Thrash classy and vicious, there is no way that one would pass this one up. Insurrection Rising, with a look to the future, will be and should be, a registered classic. These guys are skilled and with the strong leadership of Mr. Dave Silver they can pull it through on being one of the leading young Thrash Metal acts in the UK and maybe…. the world.