North Carolina Thrash Metal band OUTLIAR has returned after six years from their debut album 'Provoked To Anger' (2012) to release 'Taste The Blood'. You can definitely tell that this is a Thrash Metal album just by taking a glimpse at the album artwork, which is just superb, and with the fantastic album title 'Taste The Blood'. They sound like a band that has been fused with the music of KREATOR, SODOM, and EXODUS from the mid 2000's and late 80's; which is AWESOME!!!!!! 'The Blackest Dawn' is the opening track on the new album and it opens up with a thunderstorm with rainfall and then a very atmospheric acoustic guitar starts playing with some electric guitar playing every now and again as an intro guitar solo almost, which is then followed by drum playing. It almost feels like you are listening to OPTEH with the first minute of the song and it gives the listener the appropriate atmosphere in regards to the song title; but after a minute everything explodes around you where you hear a Thrash Metal onslaught. This song incorporates traditional Thrash Metal musicianship in regards to the guitars, bass and drums but it also includes some more modern aspects with the vocals as the vocalist sounds like he is a cross between Randy Blythe and Rob Dukes. On the whole it is an excellent song to introduce the album.

"Blood Covered and Beaten" is a four and a half minute track that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and never lets you go; it's the sort of track that if your grandparents heard this song they would wet themselves in shear horror. With this track you can definitely hear an Exodus vibe in the track; not just with the vocals but also with the guitar playing. "The Death Of All That Is Sacred" starts off as what a traditional Thrash Metal song should sound like; thumping hard drums, ear pounding guitars, a hammer hitting bass guitar and screaming vocals and a screeching guitar solo. This is a true Thrash Metal song. "Where It Ends" is a song that lasts for 5:28. It is a song that has excellent production value as you can hear everything in the song and it is very entertaining from start to finish and has a very catchy guitar riff which is impossible to stop headbanging to; I know I couldn't. The guitar solo is superb as it has a great sound in the mix as it screams out to the audience. This is a truly brilliant song. It has a sound that is similar to the German band SODOM from their self-titled album. Overall it is another great song from this band, which is highly entertaining with an excellent sound in production. There is even a music video for this awesome song on YouTube.

"Bloodside" is a track that lasts for 9:07 and it has a different sound compared to the earlier tracks; not the production that is brilliant but the song itself its almost like this track has been influenced from METALLICA in their mid to late 80's era (I'm sure certain people will be glad I said that) This song is truly fantastic to listen to from start to finish as it gets you pumped up and ready to get in a mosh pit and headbanging. Towards the end of the song the tempo slows down and it gives off a sinister vibe to the listener especially at the very end. "Bathed In Fire" is awesome and it starts off with a groove metal feeling and within 35 seconds the tempo speeds up but within the first minute the tempo speeds up to proper thrash metal speeds. Its like they are starting it slow for the audience and it feels like the band wants its audience to start a wall of death when the song kicks off. The guitar solo again is fantastic as it screams out the way a guitar solo should sound like. The drums sound like a machine is hitting you with the bullets it is firing and the bass sounds like an artillery barrage.

"V.O.A"  has a hard hitting and thumping intro and a very melodic guitar track at the beginning and in fact the lead guitar has a very melodic part in this entire song. This is still a thrash metal song but it has slightly more melodic guitar parts than some of the other tracks on this album and to me I like that sort of diversity in a bands music as it surprises the audience when they listen to it; but it still has the hammering drums, the thumping bass guitar, the screaming guitar solo and the screeching vocals. But it has more melodic parts, you could compare to melodic thrash songs like "Tornado Of Souls" by MEGADETH. "As We Watch The Bodies Burn" is a nine-minute instrumental track; some people don't like instrumental tracks but I am not one of those people. I liked it as like other tracks on this album it reminds us of bands from earlier times in the golden years and this track reminds me of those METALLICA instrumentals from the 1980's. 'As We Watch the Bodies Burn' is a truly exciting song that is exciting to listen to and has a somewhat beautiful violin piece that was played by Lyris Hung and it works brilliantly with the shredding guitar work that is on this track. The ending is a melodic masterpiece that just keeps you hooked onto the track right to the very last second.

"Pillars"s another song on this album that has a very entertaining music video and has an incredible guitar riff that has every die hard metal head headbanging to. Half way through this 6-minute track it slows down for a darker atmosphere and the vocalist switches vocal style from 'guttural' to clean vocals and then when the song speeds up again he goes back to the guttural style. When the song speeds up there is guitar solo that is like a lightning bolt has struck you. At the end the drums feel like Thor the Viking god of thunder and lighting is hitting you with his hammer. "Darken Your Door" is the last song on the album and it introduces itself with a very dark vibe and within a minute things come crashing in and hits you with the guitar riff that will awaken the dead and a scream from the singer that sounds like an ancient banshee before they go into battle. There is like most Thrash Metal songs and like all the other songs a magnificent guitar solo and a monumental bridge that slows down and speeds up which causes everyone to bang their heads and drumming at the end that sounds like a machine going off.

To sum up the album, it is bloody awesome; it has originality the songs are truly memorable, especially the artwork and the production value is excellent, which is high praise coming from someone who has a degree in music production. If you were to give this band and album a rating system it would be 10 out of 10.