2021 has been quite the year for Thrash, both mainstream and underground, and any ardent thrasher will agree that we've been simply spoilt with the bodacious bounty of glorious releases that have graced our mucky ears. We've had anywhere from EVILE through to EXODUS, and all the filthy bits in-between, thrust down our greedy lugholes. It was earlier this year that I was blown away by Swedish blackened thrashers INSANE, so imagine my delight when fellow Swedes ETERNAL EVIL came upon my desk to review their sensational debut "The Warriors Awakening...Brings the Unholy Slaughter!". The dark metallers' full-length brings us to possibly one of the filthiest Thrash climaxes EVER. Bold, blackened and boisterous in their output, these malevolent monsters of Metal are unrelenting in their eleven-track record of gargantuan, insidious measure.

Whilst these blackened demons are more than a stone's throw away from their German counterparts, you can't help but feel that this release is drenched in Teutonic teases, with a healthy glut of Black influence from VENOM, BATHORY and SODOM equally as prevalent in their simplistic, but rather delicious, forked-tongue formula. With no restraint, these barbarous thrashers burst into incendiary measures, thrusting "Succubus" into demonic territory immediately, continuing with the unbridled assault of "Bestial Fornication" that literally rapes your ears with plagued riffs of barbarous brutality and full-pelt drums that seek to annihilate.

ETERNAL EVIL get everything so right with their blood-thirsty delivery in their debut LP. From the searing leads and fiery solos to the spitting vocals, right through to the boundless rhythm section, the entire album is all killer, no filler. Powerfully frenetic solos in the likes of "Terror of the Sphinx" blast away your ears, whilst the rich depth of the bass lines of "Minotaur of Evil" and "The Nocturnal Omen", powered by abyssally dark riffs, root themselves in the blackest pit of your soul. The unrelenting bludgeoning pounds in "Satanic Forces" and the mephitic vapours of the speedy cut "Rise of Death" suffocate and penetrate with equal measure.

The final section of "The Warriors Awakening...Brings the Unholy Slaughter!" maintains every dark, delicious aspect, ramping it up full blast. Like a blackened Thrash tsunami, the eponymous track "Eternal Evil" epitomises everything you already felt the band represented: unrelenting, frighteningly fleshy and fucking furious! It's bestial, it's brutish, it's a bloody unquenchable beast... it's ETERNAL EVIL! And aspects of SLAYER creep into "Witch's Spell", with Adrian's hybrid vocals of Tom Araya and Athenar kicking into full force perfectly (if ever there was a Thrash lovechild you could create through IVF, this would be it), with the maniacal screams towards the end of the cut really getting you by the short and curlies. The riffs on this record drench you from head to toe in their bloodthirsty carnage, with "Stab of the Blade" ending this fine specimen of blackened Thrash perfectly.

Lashings of occult and death references, complemented by plenty of well-delivered "oughs" and robust vocals from Adrian, backboned by a rhythm section to literally die for makes ETERNAL EVIL's debut one of the hottest prospects for best Thrash debut of 2021. Seriously, Metal Temple are a little late to the party reviewing this release, but by all the metal gods, I can promise that "The Warriors Awakening...Brings the Unholy Slaughter!" brings all your birthdays, Christmases, best nights out with your pals - you name it - ALL AT ONCE! You'll feel like you're partying with the devil himself, with all the wrongful things in life (that usually feel so wonderful) to enjoy at the same time... get your lugs around this hunk of utter filth! This is the easiest 10/10 I've ever given.