I often find that no matter how much someone claims they "hate Thrash Metal", it's impossible to not find some sort of Thrash band in their playlist, whether it be MEGADETH's entire discography or a boot leg of some local thrashers. The German triplet TERRORBLADE have recently released their debut album "Of Malice and Evil"; honest, heavy, fast, furious, diabolical, thrashing heavy metal. That's all there is to it, and all that a good Thrash album needs.

"Malice and Evil" propels the album with some delicious-sounding heavy riffage, reminiscent of another German band, a giant in their Metal scene: RAGE. The vocals also share a striking similarity with that of Peavey, as well as a neck-snapping crunch about the riffs. What drew me into this band at first was the uniqueness of the vocal style; much thrash I hear uses vocals that consist mostly of pained yelling, and yet Michael "MetalBasstard" Bolle to pull off an aggressive bark that is full of guttural anger. The ever-proverbial of "Prometheus" is thrashed out further along in said track, and I am initially fooled by a seemingly mid-tempo chug-along. Soon enough, however, I am reintroduced to some windmill-inducing, SLAYER-inspired riffage. Unlike (unfortunately) a great amount of Thrash, this track is not a simple wall of sound; there are enough intriguing changes in riff sequence to keep one interested. Thrash Metal with an air of intelligence; deliberate or not, I am indeed intrigued.

"Time to Die" was probably my favorite track on this record, starting with a groovy bass with, progressing into a (yes, really) progressively-flourishing maze of riffs. Aside from that, much of this song sounds like something out of MEGADETH; another plus. Hell, even slight inflections in the vocals even sometimes remind me of Johan Liiva from ARCH ENEMY's earlier years, who was known for a more thrashy-approach to Death growls. The final track, "World is Broken", feels more like anthem track, with incredibly obvious ICED EARTH vibes in the riffage, vocals aside. Oddly enough, there are actually hardly any vocals present on this track; rather, smatterings of pained screams of lyrics. Considering the apparent repetitiveness of the riffs in this track, it feels as if a greater vocal presence would flesh out the song.

This is a band that exemplifies what Thrash Metal should be: heavy, thrashy, chaotic, fast, furious, brutal, and audibly terrifying.