Valkyrian Music

CounterIgnitioN
Spit or swallow
Released: June 2011
Thrash Metal/ Groove Metal
Self-Released

‘Spit or Swallow’ is the debut album from the Serbian thrash metal band. The band is composed of old members from StrikeBack and Ambush.

The opening track ‘Recalled System’ has some promising sounding guitar solos mixed in with Pantera/mid-career Sepultura-esque vocals. By contrast the next track ‘Ordinary Mortal Man’ is slower, more balladey in nature making it stand out. I’m not quite sure what’s happening with the backing vocals on ‘Sell Your Soul’. Let’s just say that the wailing clear vocals don’t really work too well with the Max Cavalera vocal style sported by the main singer. It’s a shame in a way because the groove metal riffs and the thrash metal solos are actually pretty good.

‘Secret to You… Denied’ is the real metal ballad on here, complete with more clear vocals and melodic guitars, speeding up slightly towards the second half of the track. The main difference here is that, unlike the aforementioned ‘Sell Your Soul’, this time the vocal style seems to fit the tone of the music. Other noteworthy tracks include: ‘Border’ which sounds like a cross between Machine Head and Cavalera Conspiracy; the catchy, mosh-pit friendly ‘Lawless’ and the thrash metal track ‘Life Sentenced’ which highlights the skill of the guitarists with some impressive solos.

3/5 – Overall it’s not a bad effort but there’s still some way to go.

Iza Raittila

This entry was posted on 6th June 2012 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.