Three years since "Evolustruction", they are back for one more round.

Yes, the Brazilian quartet WOSLOM, from São Paulo, are back on the front lines, unleashing yet another Thrash Metal assault on their third album, "A Near Life Experience". And if the third album of a band is a frontier between wider recognition or being left aside, these maniacs really are showing that they are here to stay and tame the underground scene.

WOSLOM are what we can call a classic Thrash Metal band; taking their musical inspirations from the USA scene of the second half of the eighties, from bands like METALLICA, MEGADETH and TESTAMENT, but with some Heavy Metal influences (such as MERCYFUL FATE and KING DIAMOND). Yet they aren't a carbon copy; but a band with a strong and savage personality, creating songs with excellent, catchy guitar riffs and solos, perfect refrains and that particular touch that makes a band differ from the others already in existence. "A Near Life Experience" sounds charming and seduces us all.

The sound quality is state-of-the-art. Yes, it's abrasive, heavy and clean, but it is still close to how WOSLOM sound during live shows. You will understand every note and every single musical arrangement without great effort; truly fine work by the band on the production, having Danilo Pozzani on the mixing and the mastering done in Absolute Master Studio by Neto Groul (the same person that mastered REBAELLIUN's "The Hell's Decrees").

And the art is really something excellent. Mário Lopez gave an organic sense to it; and for those that already know the quartet's work, you'll find interesting references to the band on the cover - something similar to what Derek Riggs did on "Somewhere in Time" cover.

Maturity is a good word to describe what we hear on "A Near Life Experience". All of its nine songs are truly perfect, the peak of their creative power.

There are no "best songs" on this album, so don't try to do find one. However, as reference - and because my Editor-in-Chief has asked me kindly to do so (holding an axe in his hands) - we can point to the savage and fast "Underworld of Aggression" (the first track of the album, which unleashes violent and excellent guitar riffs, those that you hear once and never forget, along with fine vocals); the thrashing rage shown on "A Near Life Experience" (with a length of more than eight minutes, showing some complex moments, with moderate tempos and fine work from bass guitar and drums); the excellent "Lapses of Sin" (this one has fine and catchy tempos, with a brilliant work from bass guitar); "Unleash Your Violence" with its excellent rhythmic changes (and with a high dose of adrenaline on drums), and the violent and fast "Total Speed Thrash" (showing excellent, bitter vocals). And you have a surprise on their version for "Thrasher's Return" - a song from BYWAR, a band of Brazilian thrasher maniacs - filled with their own personality.

We can't say that "A Near Life Experience" is a classic of the style, and we also can't point to it as the album of the year, but I'm sure it will have its place in many top 10 lists of 2016.<