Hailing from Schleswig-Holstein, Germany comes forth SLAGTHAMMER, a blackened thrash metal band. Originating in 2019, the band has released one demo before their full length album, "Redneck Black Metal," which came about June of this year. The album features one instrumental track and one cover track. Its sounds are rooted in formats of other projects, though their own music does shine through in its originality that makes it distinguishable. Given this though, I felt as if more attention was put on some songs than others, allowing some to act as 'filler' tracks with less complexities. When there was diversion or difference between tracks, it did not last for long, and felt as though superficial-catering to a specific metal audience rather than to a wider arena.

"FY!" begins in a static atmosphere. Evolving to a punk tone, the guitars move energetically with a loud some voice talking overhead. A shift in the track devolves to a deeper pitch, and voices overlap as an echo. Drums keep a steady rhythm, and the piece feels similar to OBITUARY. A break in the piece drags out lower bass notes, and the guitars move delicately over these patterns.

Similar to the previous, "WARHEADS (God's Revenge On Mankind)" continue the entropic feelings in a blended nature. Voices overlap with one another to create a strange dissonance. This halts and the song breaks down to eased guitar and bass notes. A banjo-like instrument is heard whimsically through this and their realms feel more palpable. A chorus of voices along with riffs of guitars sound with this. A guitar plays lonesome before the chaos begins once more. The voice screams as the drums keep a steady beat to the end.

The bass drains strongly in "Dragmetohel [ENDIT)." In a blacker metal atmosphere, a SUMMONING style vocal structure is heard with rolling guitars weaving in and out of the bass tones. With the high pitched scenery of the guitar riffs, those who listen are decomposed within the solemn makeup. Frequent, yet empty, breakdowns sample the unsettlements of the dissociative ambience.

Bass tones fashion simply in "Genocidal Holocaust." A loud "go!" is heard, which dismantles the sounds previously composed in a much too relaxed formulation. Voices are phrases and in a formatted manner. The drums beat simply, and the guitars repeat high pitched riffs that flow in and out of the drums. As if the world decidedly collapsed in itself, this track is far too decompressed than it should be, and does not fit at all with their previous thoughts.

In a slow and stretched out manner, "Dornenkrone" features bass tones with quiet cymbal crashes. A painful cry shoots through the insides of the darkened atmosphere. Continuing in its punk-like manner, the voices echo in agony, as the guitars do not match the set up in any sort of form. With the bass tones and scratchy and synth melodies, the gothic vocals carry the piece as the instrumentation is rather subdued. Though repetitive, it evokes an unnatural feeling within a listener.

"Deathblow Warbeast (A7V)" starts in static, and sounds in a typical punk musical sense with jumpy guitars and off-putting drums. It feels as though layers of instrumentation are missing, and instead, there are awkward gaps. The awkwardness continues in their shifts from one portion or idea to another. Yet this ceases as the guitar regains itself in riffs and segments where it dominates the melody as the voice screams loud some. Towards the end of the track, a banjo-like instrument is heard once more whispering a fast played melody.

Thumps of drums begin in "N.O.X. (Instrumental)," before the guitars dominate the piece. The drums double kick, as epic riffs follow up and down in scale. A synth follows the piece underneath as a misrepresented layer. The guitars glaze the piece in understanding and solicitude. The track fades with no vocals.

The banjo-like instrumentation forefronts "A Wintertale."  As the guitars grow into the piece, the track reformulates to a more a Viking-metal structure. Bass tones outline the melodies and voices sing cleanly in addition to slight screams in patterns and a chorus of noise. The banjo with synths are heard majestically as they are woven in and out of the tones. Though a much different approach than the previous setups, it works very well, and I had wished SLAGTHAMMER would have experimented with more meaningful and diverse works.

SLAGTHAMMER's "Redneck Black Metal" is an exploratory piece that exemplifies various types of the metal understories. Though diverse and plotted carefully in musicianship, I was left in question for the reasons of their wording and title choices. It felt as though the band wanted to project a certain image of sorts and to broadcast this to a specific audience. However, their images are difficult to comprehend or display without scrutiny. In the future, finding a well-developed and dignified voice without confinement or appearance would be an ideal means to portray a piece of music.