It seems that this year will be Holland's revenge. After the PESTILENCE comeback here comes the time for THANATOS, while ASPHYX are also preparing their new assult. And in all these you can also add the previous year's fantastic album of HAIL OF BULLETS, a really 'war machine' debut. THANATOS is a real banner for this country if it comes talking about the extreme Metal music. Except their exotic name these guys - and in special Stephan - are in the scene from 1984. And, yes, the Speed Kills demo may not be something bombastic, although you may think the different if keeping in mind when it came out , but their Rebirth recording plus, of course, the first two full-length LPs were nothing less than bombastic. These three basic - for Holland - bands became 'popular' for two reasons. First, the great music and secondly and very important the fact that they had their own identity and style in the musical map. Neither Florida nor Sweden, nothing. And since we have THANATOS in this review, their style had major Thrash elements inside. In the beginning they were almost 100 per cent inside that genre but as the time went by they became more and more brutal. But although being totally 'Death',  you could always find Thrash parts there and basic SLAYER influences. And unfortunately the reason that they didn't gain the recognition that the other two bands had was the terrible unluckiness with the record companies. They never had a constant support behind which led to them disappearing and split up in 1992, 'till their come-back in 1999.
In this new, number five, album I believe that THANATOS are running the best period since their before mentioned comeback. The thrashing stuff that takes your balls and puts them in your mouth is still present and more specifically with the very first song, They Feed On Fear. And when in the end we face the morbid scream I think I'll find myself melted to the floor. Without a second thought for this moment and only, for me, this album is worth a lot.
Destruction. Chaos. Creation. starts slowly with a barrage of SLAYER-ish riffing. The divine voice tugs in the 'i' are making me losing my mind, while a Death Metal holocaust follows. During The Devil's Triangle things are becoming even better. A song like this was unleashed from Feeding On Angels of SOULBURN or the last ASPHYX CD, looking like being death itself while once again the vocals are great. March Of The Infidels is also good and powerful plus the self-titled cut in the beginning seems like a threnody and then turns into a headbanging hell. The riff is fucking brilliant and AGAIN (I know you are tired) the vocals tear me apart. A fist to all the tyrants of the world that raped humanity cause of their megalomania. A concept that in general lines is being followed in all album's entity with well-written lyrics.
Can I say to you that The Netherword is also ear drilling? How the bloody hell did they manage to write such good songs? The cover on Dawn Of Eternity of MASSACRE is good enough; look, the original is ultimate hymn but right now I don't care. THANATOS is on my mind. Apostles Of Damnation is slow, heavy but probably the most mediocre of the album. The closure with Upwards Spiritual Evolution comes with a strange riffing, sometimes close to MORBID ANGEL's stuff but it is Death Metal to the bone. There are also two bonus tracks, the re-recording of And Jesus Wept from the Realm Of Ecstacy release (one of their best songs ever) plus a cover on The Burning Of Sodom of the almighty DARK ANGEL. Well, for this choice and only I must put more credit to this release. Both of the songs were released in 2006 via Konqueror Records.
THANATOS came and threw mayhem and destruction. A killer lineup, with Paul Baayens in guitars being also a member of ASPHYX and HAIL OF BULLETS, bassist Marco De Bruin that had also played some very good guitars solo and the bulldozer that listens to the name Yuri Rinkel is hitting without mercy both in blasting and mid-paced skin scalping. The album is perfect. End. I cannot wait any longer for the other return. Death, the very brutal way.