Eighties British thrash metal band HYDRA VEIN return with their latest EP "Perpetual Violence Machine". Known largely through their 1988 cult classic "Rather Death Than False Of Faith", followed by second full length "After The Dream" in 1989, the band resumed playing in early 2020 to play the Brofest festival in Newcastle (UK). Since then, they released an album in 2022, "Unlamented", before returning to the scene with their new EP "Perpetual Violence Machine", which was released on 31 August 2025. And I have to say that it is a 23:09 minutes long Old School Thrash Metal fest. And of course, I have to admit that I haven't heard any of their music before I was handed "Perpetual Violence Machine". Whereas the Bay Area and Teutonic Thrash Metal bands usually go for a clean and transparent sound, the UK Thrash Metal bands tend to be a lot more intense, with a dirtier sound that is filled to the brim with all kinds of Heavy Shit. Well, you will be glad to know that as they are from Brighton on the South Coast of England, HYDRA VEIN has taken those expectations to heart and is giving us a very intense and almost ADHD level experience on "Perpetual Violence Machine". No, not everything is faster than the speed of light, but neither are they as slow as a milk float. The speeds reached go from medium ("Black Slammer") to dangerously fast ("Perpetual Violence Machine"), but never do you get the feeling that the band is reaching beyond their means. They obviously are able to create the illusion that they know what they are doing. The songs on "Perpetual Violence Machine" will have you participating for as far as your brain, but most of all your body, allows you. It has that kind of magnetism that makes what HYDRA VEIN plays sound and feel almost addictive, but most of all that good that you are wondering why they stopped at making just an EP. But I think I have figured out why they stopped at just over twenty three minutes. It is to protect the elders like me, because if "Perpetual Violence Machine" would have been a full album of almost 40 minutes I fear that it could and would have ended me. But hey, what a way to go! Oh, as I couldn't find a video of this album, so chose that of "Unlamented", their record that was released in 2022.