Refreshing to encounter an avowed Thrash band that are not simply trying to sound like a handful of bands from 35 years ago. Mystic Storm are a Russian band who are definitely Thrash and nothing else, but they are not really trying to be retro. Their pedigree is mostly German Thrash, and so you will hear a lot of Destruction, Kreator, and the like in their sound, but that’s lineage, not imitation. Their riffs have energy, and while they are not as hooky as they could be, they are at least letting the guitars propel the songs rather than just making the drums do all the work. Vocalist Anya has a higher-pitched voice that is not singing or screeching, but definitely Thrash, and she sounds a good bit like Mille in places. This is not groundbreaking, but it’s solid.