Canadian thrash metal newcomers VIDEO NASTY has an affinity for movies in the classic B-Horror genre. Their approach to music is as sincere and frank as the movie genre itself. Fun and furious, the album is entertaining and easy to get into. Onboard with PETRICHOR RECORDS, VIDEO NASTY cleverly combines death metal and speed metal with vintage horror movies. Wound tightly around late-eighties thrash metal, "Video Nasty's" songs are as short as they are brutal.

Hailing from Calgary and Vancouver, the project was created by JORDAN SCHRITT. The idea was to fuse together ballistic metal with the ever-popular suspenseful, blood-and-guts horror movies of the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Writing and composing most of VIDEO NASTY's songs usually around one specific film, SCHRITT's lyrics also utilize cinematic inspiration.

From the very start, VIDEO NASTY clarifies that the intent for this album is to cleave its way through the listener's mind. The title track, "Video Nasty," is a turbo-charged, campy tune with a kick-ass intro. Just as vicious and grisly as the films that inspire them, this track sets the bar high. A classic thrash song that gets the blood pumping and doesn't disappoint.

"Nightmare Beach," the album's second track, is a classic thrash banger. Turbulent eighties thrash metal gets dirty with filth-laden vocal stylings and drum-beat madness, all the while furnishing nostalgia of a great movie genre. Track four, "Pieces Taken" together, draws on the parallels between VIDEO NASTY and a plethora of classic crossover thrash bands.

With such a solid start to this album, it's surprising to see the horror movie theme VIDEO NASTY gleens hardly articulated any further past this track. The occasional movie clips may fit the song titles. However, it's unfortunate that the theme peters out as the album continues.

The vocals on track six, "Final Exam," are ferocious, reckless, and unshackled. The American Celtic punk vibes mixed with pirate metal-style gang vocals are an entertaining touch. VIDEO NASTY again impressively draws from a full range of metal influences on this ripper. They do an exceptional job of combining cadaverous death-rattle blast bleats with blackened vocal stylings.

The final track is a cover of the SEPULTURA barnburner, "Antichrist." Offering up some ultra-hardcore, guttural growls with a full range of extreme metal instrumentation, this track is a good solid cover. But, a surprising way to close out the album. VIDEO NASTY seems to have taken the phrase, "Always leave them wanting more," a little too seriously.

More horror, please. Had the band pushed the envelope and embraced the darkness a bit more, the album would potentially be a heavy hitter. As a debut album, it's still very much worth a listen. But this reviewer expects to hear the band level their sound up a little and go full gonzo into the horror genre. The album has great potential but not enough meat for this metalhead's diet.