NATURE OF THE BEAST is a band from California, USA and "Radio Hauntings" is their debut full-length album after a demo released in 2018. The line-up consists of Danyael Williams on bass (this guy has been part of the legendary Thrashers DARK ANGEL for two years), Joseph Gonzales on guitars/vocals, George Rios on drums/vocals and Luis Diaz on guitars/vocals. All of those guys are veterans in the Metal scene and have been practicing their musical abilities in other bands before forming THE NATURE OF THE BEAST. The album is released by the Italian label WormHoleDeath Records which has quite a lot of bands in its roster and divisions in Japan and USA.

The album starts with the title track "Radio Hauntings" which is actually an intro and not too interesting at that. The real music begins with "Suffocate" and what you will hear is a melodic Swedish Death/Thrash metal in the vein of old IN FLAMES and DARK TRANQUILITY . There is a piano that is going through the whole song and that is completely out of place in my opinion. Joseph Gonzales'vocals are harsh Thrashy vocals and there is a decent guitar solo in this track. On to "Welcome to my World" which again starts with intro from some movie and then we have a Black metal sound with keyboards that reminds of CRADLE OF FILTH, fortunately the music evolves into a more aggressive type with some blastbeats and melodic Death guitar riffs. "Trauma" follows with a piano beginning and then a powerful Thrash metal assault in the vein of SLAYER, this track also has a dec ent lyric video. "Creatures of the Dead" is slower with some subtle keyboards sounds in the background but the speed accelerates after the middle of the song. Next is "Rise" which begins with sounds of someone being tortured and then the track explodes with blastbeats and Thrashy riffs. Joseph Gonzales'vocals don't sound suitable to me for this kind of blasting but it is a matter of taste I guess. The following "Nature of the Beast" has an official video which is quite funny for the reason that the drummer looks like he is going to fall asleep any moment over the drum kit. Otherwise the song has nothing interesting to offer, nothing to stand out. "Walls of Death" offers more primitive and aggressive sound, fortunately there are no keyboards in this track. "I'll Take You to Your Grave" begins with a long intro that is actually one third of the whole song of someone being beaten severely then we have blastbeats and some piano sounds that are completely out of place. The end of this record comes with "The Anger The Sins" which is a galloping track with a speedy guitar solo and that is all that can be said about it.

I must admit I expected much more from this release having read the previous bands that the membets of NATURE OF THE BEAST were part of. The band sounds like thrashers who haven't decided what style exactly they want to play between Thrash and melodic Death metal with keyboards thrown here and there. Joseph Gonzales' vocals don't stand out and are completely forgettable. "Radio Hauntings" is a mediocre album at best and there are many things to be improved if this band want to stand out.