When you believe in your songs, when you sacrifice time and money for the band's beliefs, when you think globally regarding the promotion of your work, when you act both as a fan but also as a musician while writing or practicing, when you stick honestly to your wants and do not fall in the trends trap...then time does tell and record deal/recognition is not as far as initially bordering on. Greece's (maybe?) finest current Thrash Metal band is here with their latest full-length CD, sharply entitled Sanctify The Darkness, and it's time for SUICIDAL ANGELS' star to shine across the globe, thanx to their hottest Nuclear Blast contract (the band took part in the Rock The Nation Award 2009, winning over 1,200 bands).
Three demos, two EPs and one full-length CD prior to this fall's new album - all this on not more than eight years - cover up for everything SUICIDAL ANGEL's been up to since they formed on Greek ground. Add tons of live appearances in their homeland and abroad, next to esteemed names like (in no particular order) TANKARD, ROTTING CHRIST, ONSLAUGHT, NILE, ANVIL, KREATOR, MASSACRE and CELTIC FROST, and you can get a brief picture on the hopes this maniacal foursome has endorsed due to their thirst for some hallucinating...
...Thrash Metal the 'classic' way. Seeding hate upon European ground mostly, but passionately looking at the other side of the Atlantic at times, SUICIDAL ANGELS hit hard with an impressive album full of soaring Thrash Metal cuts, nonstop in their banging attitude (with some absorbing 'trademark' crawling or mid-pace breaks/bridges) but - also - frankly honoring the malice of Thrash Metal without forgetting the genre's 'evil' division. With R.D. Liapakis (MYSTIC PROPHECY, VALLEY'S EVE - also a renowned producer for bands like FIREWIND, INNER WISH, WINTER'S BANE) bringing forth the spite of SUICIDAL ANGELS, elegantly giving lots of space to 'classic' Thrash frequencies while painting a slight 00s Euro Thrash/Death line all over the album's grooves, Sanctify The Darkness has a clear potential to win you over even if there's limited changes...
...you'll find something innovative or controversial in a set of eleven songs counting to a total of 38 minutes (vinyl issue needed!); nothing modern but mainly a section of Thrash music owing a lot to old KREATOR, EXHUMER or ONSLAUGHT with American (continent) reference to 80s SEPULTURA, RAZOR, HOLY TERROR and original SLAYER. The pre-said slight Death Metal edge - for possible Deathsters in interest - can bring the volume of BOLT THROWER, the gloom of PESTILENCE or the sickness of MORBID ANGEL to mind. The mix Dutch warriors LEGION OF THE DAMNED use in their offerings is not that far from the Greek band's blend, too. SUICIDAL ANGEL's guitar or rhythm section parts are cruel and raw but at the same time sharp and edgy; the same goes for the vocals; nuff said.
Not willing to separate one track from the other usually means an album kills or sucks. Sanctify The Darkness has nothing to prove; it could have been written by a long-running band still in action, while - truth is - enough Thrash Metal acts of today would have to stand in line to grab a piece of such ruthless songwriting. If you look for outstanding variety in this album you can as well stand back and pave the way for 'speed on' Thrash Metal drifters living for the pit. Really, this album is (more than) value for (our) money.