Where to start?! "SLENDER" is a 5 person band, not to be confused with Slayer, all the way from the UK that started in 1990. If you check any of their pages you'll see immediately in their about section that they are indeed a 5 person band with nothing else to tell. Anything else you need or want to know you have to go and dig for. This has no impact on my rating but bands pleeeeese use social media to your advantage; its at everyones finger tips anymore. I digress though, 35 years, wow thats been a long time! This album "Take It To The Grave" is only their 3rd album that has been released in that long time frame. Apparently they released 1 album and then took a 16 year hiatus, since then they have released to albums, "Take It To The Grave" being the most recent.

First up we have "Terrified" and holy hell! Immediately makes you want to move every part of your body. You can definitely tell they get their inspiration from the iconic 80s thrash metal sounds. I would not 100% say that is a good thing. Yes it sounds great, yes its bad ass to see live but on the same hand it is 2025. Music has evolved and I feel like any band that wants to become big or has become big in the past evolved with it. Moving past that the screaming guitars are absolutely insane and I absolutely love that you can actually hear the bass guitar but not to the point its annoying. Moving on to "Requiem" the drums and guitars all come in absolutely destroying it yet again! Vocals are meh to me. I am just not a huge fan of the high pitched, theatrical sound of it. Though, that is definitely 80s thrash style. Side note- If this band ever does a lower and deeper sound on vocals with those same guitars and drums I would absolutely love to sample it before being released! I feel like they could absolutely kill the metal scene if they evolved that sound some. On that note, "In The Twilight" somewhat did exactly that. This song, its the drums for me, any person who can move that fast is extremely talented. I can barely walk and breathe at the same time and you've got these guys over there moving like a cracked out squirrel and keeping beat! Vocals sounds a lot better in this song, their still high and very theatrical, but their getting there. I think if he shortened the notes so they weren't so theatrical it would be almost perfect! "Take It To The Grave" is next on the lineup and yes, just yes! Immediately has my heart pumping out of my chest like I just ran from a zombie who thought I looked like a tasty treat. The vocals are exactly what I am looking for! There is still some of that theatrical drawn out notes that I am not a fan of but I could just imagine taking that out and inserting some gutteral screams. "Deguello" starts out slowed down a lot, and I won't lie, I love it. It may start out slow and dark sounding but it immediately picks up but...what's that I hear? Do I hear some screams? Did we just evolve our sound in the 5th song of the album? I believe so, and yes so much yes! Please give us more of this! Sadly, "Rust In My Bones"  "Soul Reaper", and "Power Of The Music" went right back to the theatrical, high pitched, 80s thrash metal sound. Its as if "SLANDER" said lets keep it in the 80s but dip a small toe in the 2025 but then revert back to the 80s.

All in all, great band, great sound, pretty good album. Definitely some get up and go music but as I have mentioned a few times, I would love to hear more evolved sound. As much as we all would love to go back to the past when we were young, if you want a bigger fan base you have to keep evolving. Keep your sound but add to it and you'll have fans of all ages, rather than 35+.