Am I the only one who likes the lead pipe sound that some snare drums make? I know a lot of people who bitched incessantly about Lars Ullrich's drums on "St. Anger" because of that, whereas I thought the drums were the only thing that made that song (or the album, for that matter) worth listening to. Sorry METALLICA ninjas, that album blew and you know it!

DEAD LABEL is this Irish Thrash Metal trio has really got some potential, and their debut album "Sense Of Slaughter" is almost wall-to-wall full of killer riffs, and the aforementioned lead-pipe drums. Now, I absolutely must bitch about the vocals. I know this is a Thrash band; therefore, I knew what I what getting myself into, but shit the crib! I get very irritated with screaming vocals, and having to listen to an entire album of it is always a pain in the scrotum. This dude Dan O'Grady has got to have just about the most fucking annoying screaming voice I've heard all day, but I know, I know; it's a Thrash band, so I will go easy on them.

The guitar riffs are wicked though, and this album deserves to be heard for the guitar work alone. I mentioned earlier that the drums have the lead-pipe sound, so you can take that however you will. I thought it was cool and appropriate. The bass is unnoticeable, as it usually is in Metal. The other big gripe I've got with this record is that all the songs sound the same. Screaming vocals (ugh), Awesome riffs, so-on, and so-on. The same shit every track, so pointing out a particular favourite song or least favourite song might as well be the result of an eeny-meeny-miney-moe game. The songs are enjoyable, but extremely monotonous.

Overall, I dug it, but there is absolutely nothing special about this album. Buy it if you are looking for a solid, wall-to-wall Thrash album. That's not exactly a hard thing to find though, and there are much better albums in that category than this. I mean choosing this record over, say, "Epidemic Of Violence" by DEMOLITION HAMMER would be a silly move in my opinion; but you can't grade an album by how well it compares to others. Especially timeless classics like that one.

I will say this though; if these kids actually apply some serious thought and energy into diversifying their sound, dramatically improving the vocals and coming up with more interesting material in their Songwriting Then they may well end up being a great Thrash band, that is clearly evident on this record. I'd keep an eye on them, and we shall see what happens.