Italian thrashers Acrylate have committed a work of classy thrash metal in the form of the tracks features on Chemical Defection which definitely shows a lot of potential.
The style is a combination of melodic death metal and thrash metal; melodeath itself being a hybrid of thrash metal and death metal with an injection of NWoBHM-inpsired melody, it might be more correct to say that this album falls on the more thrashy side of the thrash-melodeath contiunuum. In any case, with tempos ranging from midtempo mosh-friendliness to uptempo aggression-fueled brutality, the album definitely does a lot of justice to the thrash metal genre, and there is a sense of dynamism in the compositions. Acrylate have managed to strike a fine balance between thrash aggression and melodeath appeal to melody, much like Kreator did on Hordes of Chaos - which works to their advantage on this album.
The vocals by Massimo Frasca - sounding like a sick mix of Brian Johnson (AC/DC), Blaine Cook (The Accüsed, Denial Fiend), and Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, Lock Up) - might be an acquired taste, which some people might never be able to appreciate, but in the context of the aggressive, yet accessible, thrashing metal, I think that the vocals work very well. The drums strike me as being much too mechanical, and I suspect that they were programmed (the repetition of the same fill countless times in 'Atomic Chaos' seems to suggest this although the line-up does feature a drummer). In any case, a more dynamic and varied drumming style would be a valuable asset (there are a lot of pretty cool beats and drum figures on the album, it should be mentioned). Another thing that I think the album would have benefited from is melodic guitar leads and guitar solos, which would fit neatly into the overall sound on the album.
So, in all, Chemical Defection features some pretty good compositions and comes across as a quite good melodic thrash metal album, but there are some details detract from the listening experience every now and then. Still, fans of thrash metal and melodeath should find this release quite enjoyable.
Track listing:
1. Red Snake
2. Fight the Pain
3. Chemical Defection
4. Evilhand
5. Antology of Slaughter
6. Atomic Chaos
7. Foul Play
8. S.S. 106 (The Killing Road)
9. Black Fog
10. Sound & Fury
11. Acrylate
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