Sometimes you get an earful that is so enticing that your hair stands on end. That happened to me as soon as I started playing "Trial By Chaos", the second album of RAIDER, which is to be released on March 13^th, 2023. RAIDER is a band that comes from the town of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. I know it is an area of Kitchener, a very fruitful area when it comes to musical heritage. One of the forgotten gems from that area is ZERO OPTION, a Heavy Metal band from the late eighties.

So, you ask, why has this grabbed my attention? Because this is Thrash Metal as it always was supposed to be. Fast, furious, with a complete dedication to try and blow the listener's mind and his stereo, whilst simultaneously annoying the parents and of course the neighbours. So RAIDER is going for the throat from the get go, and are definitely not taking any prisoners. What does help is that in Angelo Bonaccorso they have the right kind of voice to have the music come over as menacing as possible. With a voice that is borderline Thrash, Death and even Black Metal, he is covering all angles as he sees fit. And I feel he is making the right choices at the right times.

The 39 minutes plus that you get to enjoy "Trial By Chaos" makes me wonder why I haven't heard anything about them before. They were founded in 2017 and released their "Urge To Kill" demo in 2018. Their debut album "Guardian Of The Fire" came in 2020, and even if it is half as good as this new "Trial By Chaos" album, it will be worth checking them out. But please beware, they are not treading on new grounds, but reviewing and reusing older influences to make up the RAIDER footprint. But they do it in such a way that it never gets dull, never is complacent, but most of all is very exciting to listen to. And they have the capacity to throw in just enough variation to prevent you from feeling that you are listening to the same track eight times over.

To say that I like "Trial By Chaos" is certainly an understatement. This rocks big time. It certainly gets my motor running and most of all, makes me forget all the pains and aches that are torturing my body while typing this review. I have to be careful not to start thrashing like a maniac, as I feel my wife (and my physique) wouldn't be very impressed if I did. But I have to admit, the inclination is extremely viable. RAIDER rules!