• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

Exiled to the Surface is the fourth album from Traitor, a thrash metal band out of Germany. They play a balls-to-the-wall speedy thrash that doesn't try to do anything new, unique or flashy, and that's just fine because these guys can not only write a catchy song, but they can also play the hell out of it. There's no groove, no breakdowns, nothing even remotely modern to the point that I would have no trouble at all believing this was an underground gem from the late '80s. Cuts like "Exiled to the Surface," "Metroid" and "Decade of Revival" crackle with the power of screaming vocals, harsh but mercifully not death, gatling gun riffs and pummeling drums. There's a precision to Traitor's playing the underlies the rawness of their performance, like a combination of Nuclear Assault and Kreator. So much of today's thrash is fine but dreadfully generic. Traitor have managed to avoid the black hole of sameness and have gifted us with a gem of fist in the air, head down in the pit, pure thrash.