Since the day that I first encountered the German GODSLAVE with their  massive "Out Of The Ashes" EP, I knew that when a band profoundly maintain the a unification between Bay Area and aggressive German Thrash, the result will be utterly destructive and for the better. After being independent from many years, also under their previous name SLAVERY, GODSLAVE signed with local SAOL label and released their sophomore album "Into The Black".

Probably the first thing that blew me away was the band's production. In the vein of the same production as on their previous EP, GODSLAVE wanted power and they sure hell got it. I think that Thrash Metal deserved this lovely gift of chunky and hefty sound and with it supplied the hunger for a taste of pure violence. "Into The Black" is what Thrash Metal needed all these years. However many newfound Thrash bands likes the thin sound of the early years in order to accurate for example, GODSLAVE were equally accurate yet a lot heavier than others out there.

However "Into The Black" in a whole didn't tell me something new of how Thrash Metal is progressing nowadays, it did show me the perfect marriage between the USA and Germany's Thrash scene. It is like putting SLAYER, EXODUS and METALLICA with DESTURCTION and SODOM in the same room to mosh themselves up. The intensity of the German scene brought GODSLAVE the means to be ruthless and extreme in a way while the US Bay Area enabled GODSLAVE to deliver the catchy sounds of Speed Metal with blinks even to NWOBHM on its raw form.

Perhaps what I missed a bit with "Into The Black" is the fact that their two guitarists, Gnomos and Bernie didn't issue much in the solo department. Although they did some pretty nice things as on "Unleash The Slaves", which had a solid solo and cool lead guitar on the chorus, or "Uncut, Unseen, Unrated" that was generally explosive and the cool lead on "Blood Of The Innocent", I expected slightly more because these guys have quite an experience and doing some mayhemic and semi-technical solos would have better for them. Maybe that fact is a part of the reason, aside for a tribute or different perspective, why Mike Sifringer (Destruction), Manuel Zewe (Celesta) & Benedikt Zimniak (Mekong Delta) did guest solos on some of the tracks. Be sure that these guys did great work on their roles especially on tracks as "Scholar Eclipse" and the instrumental "A Shot In The Dark".

So if you are a sucker for great heavy riffs of Thrash, whether 80s, 90s or 00s, as me, you will probably bang your head more than enough with this new album. Being straightforward as hell didn't burn out the fire of this band. Even if they didn't come to be the news, their performance is magnificent and their way to Thrash is killing.