METHEDRAS is yet another Italian powerhouse headbanging since the 90s emerged from the shadows recently after four long years to kick our asses with their fifth full-length release The Ventriloquist. We're talking about all the drama of Melodic Death's DNA being spliced violently (and messily) to the stage-destroying sound of Bay Area Thrash. Taking their name from Tolkien, 'Methedras' is the southern most peak in the Misty Mountains. Indeed, their songs are filled with sharp audio crags and rockslides of drumbeats tumbling down shear cliffs of bass. The Ventriloquist is a furious beast of an album callously destroying all in their wake.

We begin with being dropped right into the epicenter of a raging warzone, enemy fire all around us and few ways out except straight through the melee in "A Deal with The Devil". It's a song with blistering chords foaming at the mouth with rage. The battle takes a turn into one on one fist fighting in the brutish "Sham Knockout" with bone-shattering drums and fast-flitting technical solos. METHEDRAS comes to the ring brimming with violence, and the violence is plenty to go around. Not only does it infect everything it touches, tensing muscles and clenching jaws in anticipation of the next brawl as only Thrash can do, it also carries a black, swirling atmosphere of doom that only Death Metal can bring.

Many have combined the two to some degree, but remember METHEDRAS has been selectively breeding the two genres for the last twenty-three years, and picking the best and strongest of the litter for their next album. "Dead Silence" is anything but with vocalist Claudio Facheris' shrill, banshee screams right out of the gate and features a uniquely catchy chorus (must take after the Thrash). The ventriloquist is the result of four years of perfecting a combination sound, the band meticulously taking their time to deliver a face scorching album that doesn't end until you've headbanged so much, your brain becomes a thick milkshake!