The Swiss thrash band FREAKINGS released their debut album "No Way Out" back in 2011, showcasing a SODOM and VENOM style of slower, heavier thrash with growling vocals that made the band instantly likeable. Then 2014's "Gladiator" changed things up with a more SLAYER-esque sound - cleaner vocals with more angry shouting over harsher, faster background. The latest release, "Toxic End", retains some of the "Gladiator" style, but in a more personalized manner. The sound is heavier, or at least that's the impression it gives off, as the production is not as muffled as with the previous release, and the riffs are dominant.

Track by track review makes no sense as every song on the album is more or less identical. Hard, fast, all-out bashing, smashing, thrashing and moustaching, FREAKINGS show little regard for musicianship, and all the regard for unleashing hell 24/7. At first glance the album is on the short side, with its thirty-six and a half minutes of playtime, but trust me, where other albums give you room to breathe with slow melodic breaks or even acoustic tracks, FREAKINGS's offering is pedal to the metal start to finish, it is highly unlikely that an unaltered human being would be able to take in more than thirty-six and a half minutes of this at full blast. The sound leaves something to be desired, especially on the side of the drums, which sound flat and annoying, thankfully without slamming the cymbals all album long and invoking suicidal thoughts through it, like some other bands do. The second half of the album gives more freedom to guitar solos, which are quite decent and enjoyable.

"Toxic End", similarly to FREAKINGS' previous albums, ends up being style over substance. Each track, albeit built upon strong riffs and impressive drums and bass, ends up indistinguishable to the next. The struggling vocals, although really selling the signature thrash story of "shout your lungs out at the disgusting world", should have been the tying piece that brings all this "has promise" material into "great album" land. The way it is done, however, shows too much infatuation with sounding angry, and not enough with giving all that rage a meaning. Lyrics are on the lower end of the greatness scale, with lines like "Desire for forgiveness / Revenge and retribution / It speaks its own language / Weapons and murder". Technically the music is impressive, guitar work is solid and the solos show originality, however the uninspired songwriting makes little use of it. The good news is that FREAKINGS' style is precisely what thrash purists would eat up, as many fans of the genre don't take kindly to originality, and it's easy to see why - pure old-school thrash is a formula that just works, and "don't fix it if it ain't broke". And if you'd just listen to any pure old thrash, you might as well listen to "Toxic End" - it is powerful, fast, angry, and delivers a ton of molten steel right up your ass, so you can head-bang and windmill and drink and thrash to all your heart's desire!