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GHOUL have definitely risen as a unique, yet colossal monolith in the world of Thrash Metal. Borrowing from crossover Thrash outfits such as DRI, Death Metal in the taste of SLAYER and LORD GORE, and finally Grindcore in the vein of CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER. The result, however, is entirely original. GHOUL are partially a concept band, and a very witty one at that. People who take this kind of stuff seriously honestly need to be hogtied and executed behind K-mart. The most impressive factor of MANIAXE is the obviously talented musicianship displayed within. You have an incredible amount of fantastic riffs, cool bass leads, and some consistent and steady drum hammering. In short, this is perfect mosh-music.

The album is rather short, but it compliments the songs nicely. They're neither too long, nor too short, and the amount of songs compliments the style of music they play perfectly. The speed is there, the Thrash-worship is present, and everything checks out as very well thought out, humorous, aggressive, and something a lot of music lacks these days, fun! It's hard to not have a great time listening to tracks like "Ghoul Hunter", "Numbskull", "Maniaxe", and "Mechanized Death", easily the best tracks on the album. All the songs have a three-vocal attack, each with different pitches (one being incredibly low and guttural), except for one track which is almost wholly narrated ("Ghoul Hunter"), which is perhaps my favorite song on MANIAXE along with "Mechanized Death". The lines "The sound of metal chilled my very bones; there were riffs the beat the band, pounding drums I couldn't stand, and the vocalists created shocking tones!" and "The quartet of maniacs hunched over me; and forced me to listen to Anthrax and Megadeth" always put a smile on my face.

Simply enough, if you're a fan of Death, Thrash, Grind, and fun music in general, pick this up! I guarantee you'll enjoy it.