Thrash is back in a big way. I'm seeing bands like SLAYER, OVERKILL, and TESTAMENT selling out small theaters once again, as if it's back in the late 1980's when the first wave reached its peak. Newer bands are coming from all parts of the world to put their stamp on the scene, creating fresh bands and songs in the hopes of capturing the minds and hearts of the younger generation. Spain's STRIKEBACK are another quintet who perform in the same vicious, rabid dog Thrash mode as a lot of their early Bay Area influences - as well as keeping an eye on the new breed - thanks to this 8 song debut album "Share Your Hate".

STRIKEBACK would be the first to admit they love a lot of the speed and aggression of early Bay Area Thrash- but I think some of the speed picking has a lot of that HEATHEN edge, and vocally Liber has a lot in common with John Kevill of WARBRINGER. When the band wants to hone in on a particular sequence of chord progressions, they can be rabid and ferocious like the best days of MEGADETH on "Revolution" - the riff swirl buzzing about as if a pack of pit bull dogs are out for blood. Gang vocals punctuate key phrases and choruses, while Pilar and Sebas maneuver between a steady mid-tempo pacing and heart racing speed that gallops and galvanizes Metal audiences.

Favorites are numerous: the stop/ start blitzkrieg of "Kill or Be Killed", the down picking, down-tuned "Supremacy" as the East Coast Thrash style bass pumps through, or opener "Breathing Fire" that may start somber but quickly builds into a head banging, energy fueled monster. For a first album, these guys have hit all the right qualities to develop into a potent Thrash force - the question remains, will they be able to wedge their way in for the field in this sub-genre is very crowded? Time indeed will tell.