Formed just three years ago, Rhode Island-based Black Metal act SANGUS are back with their second EP entitled "Pedicabo Mundi".

A bombardment of Thrash influences kick off the EP right off the bat with "Blood Legions", a song that hits you with the unstoppable force of a freight train. The vocals have a vaguely sinister and creature-like feel to them, and kind of sound like what I'd imagine a band fronted by Gollum from Lord of the Rings would sound like; which is actually pretty awesome, albeit somewhat unexpected. "Leeching Pigs" on the other hand sees the tempo being taken down a notch, allowing a darker and murkier sound to come more to the fore. This is again countered by the maelstrom of "Genocidio" which is a veritable whirlwind of a song that is guaranteed to destroy necks in a live setting. With barely a second to catch your breath, we are launched straight into "Ave il Luce", which carries on with this frantic tempo, and takes the listener through a blitzkrieg aural onslaught of sheer annihilation. However, whilst the Thrash elements undoubtedly form the backbone of SANGUS's sound, I can imagine that this break-neck tempo can get a bit tedious after a while. You can hear that these guys are experienced musicians who definitely know what they're doing, yet nevertheless, a full-length album along the lines of "Pedicabo Mundi" will need more variation to prevent the music fading into the background. Although it's not just the lack of deviation in tempo that can get a bit much: the cymbals are also over-used, and tend to draw attention away from the awesome work done on guitars and on the other portions of the drum kit.

Yet despite these flaws, SANGUS definitely has the potential to produce really good music, as this EP so readily proves: with a total play-time of just over ten minutes, "Pedicabo Mundi" is rawer than a vegan's worst nightmare. If you're into your heavily Thrash influenced old school Black Metal bands like WAR, give SANGUS a listen.