Hailing from Australia, THRAXAS has released their first full length EP, and was produced by Matt Clarke. Having put out a demo in 2018 called Slave Wages, followed by the changing of the guard with Aleks on guitar and Dan on bass. In 2019 they put out a single with the new line-up called Cthulhu Rising and as of November 2021, they have Planetary Terrorism to add to their resume.

The EP starts out with the track "Concrete Cowboy", and as they describe their songs as Heavy Groove metal, that stands true with this song. Crunchy guitars riff away as the song is an in your face style of track with galloping bass, complemented by some aggressive drumming that all follow a tempo as to match the vocals. Toss in a good guitar solo and you have yourself a good opening presentation to the band. The next track up is "Ecophagy'', as it starts out with some echoing vibrating bass, before kicking into gear with some thrashy drums and guitar. The tempo comes back down but the intensity is kept up with some double kick, before once again bursting into more pace. The song does a good job with changing up the tempo, and has some nice work on bass by Dan. "Seven Sided Strike" gives me a reminder of old school DEATH ANGEL, with the vocals and how they are delivered, and also with the intensity that comes from the guitars, especially as they head into the double solo's. This song trumps the EP for me, very well done.

The next song to talk about is "Warchief", and it is a thrash fest from beginning to end. Izak has the drums producing a pounding force as he delivers a variety of tempo's that keeps this song grooving. This song outlines the description of the band to a tee, as it is a very heavy grooving song. The EP ends with some echoing guitars as you await what is next to come with "Sarcophagus". The answer is, more thrash! This song seems to have a little more technical work in the guitars, and comes across with a little bit of a Doom metal sense, especially as the soloing begins. The vocals, as for much of the album, match well to the music and Chris does a good job of not letting them get lost with all that is happening around them.

Although I would have liked to have heard something more full length to get a better idea of what they have to offer, THRAXAS has put together a pretty good example and it is something I could get behind. They come across as highly energetic and talented. The bass has a dark deep vibrating tone that stands out and the drums are great. It is a fun collection of songs to listen to and hopefully there will be more to hear in the future.