Doomsday : "Never Known Peace"

 

Thrash is coming from the Bay Area again. The vocals feel very "Bonded By Blood", while the diving bombing guitar summons a more nuanced attack. They do have a knack for writing catchy riffs so that is going for them. Less hardcore than Enforced, and more energetic than Power Trip, though not as aggressive. The opening track kicks the door in, but can they maintain this momentum. The chug gets even more frantic on the second song. Until the riff comes when they get ready to open up the pit, I thought "Eternal Tombs' was still the previous song. So their energy plays against them and begins to charge forward with uniformity. 

At times the vocal phrasing makes me think of Blooclot in "Age of Quarrel". The drummer is impressive, but you have to be for this sort of thing,  "Killing Feilds" is gritty but works best when the vocals get in the pocket. "Pain Dweller" has almost a Megadeth feel to the way it's riffs groove. The entire approach to this band's songwriting is to challenge the rule of "cool riffs alone do not a good song make", it's hit or miss. They are good enough musicians that nothing sucks, most of it is better than your average thrash revivalist band. Some of the songs are only about two minutes long and if you blink they will race right by you. "Extinction's Hymn" is just over a minute and a half so does not have the time to be much more than an instrumental interlude. 

"Never Known Peace" is pummeling but sticks with you. The opening riff to "Everyday War" is the first that reminds me of Metallica. The rest of the song is more like Suicidal Tendencies. This works because with this comes more of a hard-core punch. "Holy Justice' carries a great deal of purpose in its chug, but the vocals are not doing enough to hook me in. Instead, guitar solos are more dominant which might win some over. "Remnants of Spite" finds them taking on more of Slayer-like aggression, though this is accented with hard-core-tinged vocals. They lay on the speed pretty hard. What they are doing might not be the most original thing I have heard but it is a great deal of fun and they have captured the sound they are going for well so I will give this one an 8.5. It comes out at the end of this month on Creator-Destructor Records.

Never Known Peace by Doomsday

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