Greece has been pouring out some fantastic Thrash Metal in the last few years. I suppose this isn't normally anything to shout about but the sheer volume and quality of these bands has been tremendous, some of them easily rival the American greats and SATAN'S WRATH are definitely one of these bands.

They have been tearing up the Mediterranean for a little over three years now and they have honed an incredible sound that can only be described as the bastard child of Thrash & Black Metal. This twisted sprog is a refreshing thing to hear, it doesn't bear the cries and complaints of your average Thrash baby, nor does it get all up itself and stubborn like the Black Metal kids have a tendency to do. Rather it is an almost perfect hybrid, like some strange red headed chimera that can walk in the daylight.

"Die Evil" is the third full length album and it follows very much along the same thread. The album opens up with "Raised On Sabbaths" and the old thrash influences can be heard ringing through the intro. The dissonant, almost chromatic guitar work that is very reminiscent of SLAYER gives way for fast paced blasts and head banging riffs that could easily ring true for anything to come out of America at pretty much any point in the 80's/90's.

What sets this apart from just more Thrash however is the vocal work. There is nothing Thrash about the demonic emanations from Tas Danazaoglou and it almost sounds like he is performing the summoning rites for the great Baphomet right there and then.
This is also the area of most contention for the album though as the vocals are certainly different from their previous albums and not necessarily in a good way. There seem to be several layers of effects piled up on them, notably echo and reverb and although this might work very well for some Black Metal bands, it just doesn't work with this kind of music. The vocals are almost washed away into the background by the effects which is such a shame as there is clearly a great deal of the kind of evil you want behind them.

Musically the album is solid though and there are all the hallmarks of great Thrash in there. The guitar solos could quite easily make most men pregnant with some kind of malevolent riff baby whilst the drums would be on hand to blast the little bugger out in no time at all. There are some truly riff-tastic moments as well, especially in songs like "Coffinlust" and "Diabolical Shudder".

Fans of the previous releases may be a little disheartened at the changes to the vocals on this album but all in all it is another fantastic offering from these Satanic Greek madmen. The vocals will grow on you if you give them a chance and the rest of the music is so good you can almost forget any little gripes.