In South East Austria, near to the Slovenian border one can come across TOBLAKAI. The three-piece young Thrash outfit having released their debut album, "Puritan Hands" in July 2020. The artwork is very tribal in appearance, with a minimalist design it is both simple and complex simultaneously and it is quite exquisite.

Opening the record is "Each Beginning Brings An End" with its aggressive riffs and hammering rhythms, accented by the strong and vicious vocals from Immanuel. Initially I would liken the style to somewhere between ENSIFERUM and AMON AMARTH. The energy continues into "Tyrant", the Speed / Thrash elements coming forward, as the almost breathless taste carries the listener through almost 4 minutes of pure unadulterated Metal.

The titular "Puritans Hand" comes in with a strong folk feel, before picking up in intensity. A very bouncy, jiggy style of track it is thoroughly enjoyable. "Hail To The Insane" cranks the intensity back up with a short and sharp punch, just in case you had forgotten!

The dark, and misty atmosphere continues to surrounding the tracking throughout. With each delivering its own twist and giving it's wow factor. In all honesty I have to recommend this to anyone, the dense and distorted tracking is articulated by an overarching guitar run that just adds a little bit of finesse to each of the songs.

In the latter half of the record, "Death Hippie", the clean and beautiful "Prelude To Chaos" and finally "Chaos Legions" really round off the album with a flourish. "Puritans Hand" really is a debut album that TOBLAKAI should be proud of, the music is there and the passion is evident. I am sure that as they grow they will develop a little bit of finesse and style that will set them up there with the big names.