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I fucking loved this band's debut back in 2004. Thrash Assault was a blistering little underground gem that combined murky recording with feral energy to create an assault of Blackened Thrash goodness. Their follow-up, Satanic Assassins, didn't do it for me, and here we have their third, and I really want to love it, but I just kind of like it.

This still has all the pieces, with the aggressive riffs, breakneck speed, and the distinctive bellow of frontman Doom G. Blackthrash. This was always a band who were all about aping Kreator and Sodom from the old days, and they still do a good job of it. So why am I so lukewarm about this? I don't know. The recording is dirty and raw-sounding, but the guitar sound is too warm and round, not a sharp, slashing sound like I want for both Black and Thrash Metal. The riffs are good, but not as good as they were on the debut, and the sound kind of loses them in the mix. I do like that this band remembers to keep a distinctly Thrash riff style, but it just doesn't sound as ferocious as I want it to. I want this thing to rip and tear, but it just sounds muffled and lacks oomph. Their debut was like bottled lightning, but this one isn't.