The 80s era of Metal will always be the most loveable and admirable one. Yet, as much as 80s Metal will forever be a musical diamond and a breakthrough, some of its today's implementations may distract the notion a bit and create a different impression. Well, several of you might have noticed that not everything that came out of the 80s was that good or that inspiring to begin with.

Nevertheless, some Metalheads would expect from the present new wave of old school bands, which hold the 80s close to their bleeding hearts, to keep it alive with a little more class. Sad as I am to acknowledge it, the incoming was an 80s like downfall. The debut creation, "Violent MetalStorm", of the band from Belgium, GAE BOLGA, which seemed to appreciate the 80s more than many Thrash bands out there, didn't make the cut.

The album was released through the French old school endorsed label, Emanes Metal Records, and it showed signs that true Speed / Thrash Metal in path of the early 80s DESTRUCTION and EXCITER came back to haunt the scene. However, the end result turned out to be in a rather low quality. GAE BOLGA's music on "Violent MetalStorm" was another presentation of the same type of banality that for instance was very similar to the one showed on the latest EXCITER album.

On the course of the listening I found out that a large mass of the tracks around this one has the same old Speed Metal riffs that just kept on coming from all directions without any sense of originality or at least diversity among these easy played riffs. It was as if GAE BOLGA found a niche they liked and kept hammering it with all kinds of alternate versions just to keep it alive and well. It might have worked on songs like the mayhemic "Cemetary At Midnight", which was the most impressive example of true evil Speed / Thrash Metal on its rawer image, or the self-titled, slightly KREATORish, "Violent MetalStorm", yet, that same path tanked the band into lower grounds with "BolgaBangersBall" and the annoying "Dr. Oetkah". Well, at least they added a couple of solos on the way, but really, how repetitive can a band get? Whether its old school or not, it was hard for me to believe to some of the stuff that I was listening.

On the other hand, I still think that this group can get somewhere with their stuff if they would check themselves from time to time in order to see if they haven't been recycling the 80s and themselves as it occurred on the album. The spear of mortal pain will cause some true hurting if it will be effective enough. Old school isn't the ultimate simplicity as it can be interesting and amazing. When it comes down to Speed Metal added by Thrash, it just can't be a recycle bin. This is something for GAE BOLGA to think about.