GODSLAVE – Out Of The Ashes

German Thrash Metal has always been more extreme than its American counterpart. When the holy triplet of German Thrash: Kreator, Destruction and Sodom first appeared, all of the European scene went after them. Godslave is a late spawn of the rawness of Sodom’s early and mid years of the 80’s. They play their Thrash like in the old days, with the addition of blackened vocals à la Sodom from In The Sign Of Evil through the crushing heaviness of Agent Orange. Like Sodom, the band is motivated by the themes of wars and the occult. Expect to be amazed from a terrific production of a damn good Euro Thrash Metal mind blow.

In the year 2000 in Saarland, Germany, a band named Slavery played Thrash / Power Metal. A year after their formation, they released their first demo, Beauty Bastard – A Werewolf Nightmare,  which was released only on tape. After that demo and line-up changes, they went into a total silence until something brought them back to our reality in 2008, with a new identity and a more aggressive approach.

Under their new name Godslave, the band worked fast and released their first album Bound By Chains and a short time after that breakthrough came along their thunderous new EP, Out Of The Ashes, which is pretty rare to find as it was released only in the hundreds . This EP presents the renewed sound of the glory days of Sodom of Blackened Thrash Metal. So get your engines started because we are off out of the ashes.

With a massive production managed by Phil Hillen at SU2 studios, Godslave delivered an amazing improvement in comparison to their debut release. The sound of all the instruments is full, deep and crunchy as hell – it is like hearing a new version of Agent Orange. The vocals are almost the same as Sodom’s but a little bit harsher towards the Black / Death style of singing. Vocalist Thomas “Slavegrunter” Pickard has an awesome voice, aside from the works on his vocals by the producer, unlike Tom Angelripper; he is not using raspy or clean vocals and the growl is his only weapon just like Alexi Lahio of Children Of Bodom. The twin axes and bass player master their skills with a major heavy bombardment of destructive Thrash riffs that are true mosh-pit material lead by various solos. The drumming is also excellent with the perfect set sound and a skilled drummer.

Out Of The Ashes is the right name for this release, the band is out of the dark to blow the Metal world away with an 80s show of force armed with a new and aggressive sound.  Almost all the tracks on this EP will not let you down even for a bit. The last track, “Where The Sun Sleeps”, is a very nice tune, the only problem with it is that its intro is a bit annoying after hearing it so much (and not by playing this song too much). This tracks show the band’s morbid approach of Black / Thrash Metal.

“Out Of The Ashes” sounds like a prayer by the dark priests and is covered with a slow tempo punching combination of the band’s effort – charging drums and guitars. Yet it has the Speed Metal routines that Metallers love and cherish. “Slave To The Black” is the killer of them all with riffs of Thrash / Heavy Metal with the undeniable heaviness of total devastation, especially in mid tempo parts of sheer double bass madness and guitar fury. The chorus is expected but is well placed and executed.

“Wings Of Wrath” starts like many banal war tunes with the sounding alarm until the bombs fall and all hell breaks loose. Most of this one is Speed Metal madness with a melodic piece of a catchy chorus and great drumming. “Dead Reckoning” is the runner up for best track in the EP. Blasting off with a thrilling speed of trill guitars until the attack on the chorus that is delivered with a brutal growl cry and heavy riffs. Musically, the chorus has some resemblance to Iced Earth’s “Reaping Stone”. Also the band gives you a treat of a half a minute rhythm fun to blow everyone’s heads.

This release is an amazing turnout of a probable work around the clock by the guys. Godslave has the potential to be one of the greatest bands in the new age of Thrash Metal if they keep this line. Without doubt, Godslave’s way to get a contract deal in the near future is secured and sealed. Good luck mates.