We Serve No One
Virgin Snatch
•
April 17, 2014
A quick look at the album cover art work would give you feeling that this might be a very heavy and an out and out Thrash attack on the listeners bringing in anti-Political lyrics. But looks are deceptive. VIRGIN SNATCH's "We Serve No One" is surprisingly more than that and has lots of melodies filled with Groove influences and has twists and turns to keep the listener engrossed till the end and considering that this is the 5th full length album by these Polish Thrashers, the band surely shows its maturity.
The album starts off with a heavy atmospheric "Coup de Main (Intro)", bringing in some police car sirens along with some catchy headbang-able riffs, clearly indicating of what's in store with the rest of the album. From the 2nd song "Sister Revolution", the band goes on full high tempo mode continuing the juicy riffs brought in by axe men - Grysik and Pawel Pasek. The vocals of Zielomy are of growling style and remind me of Jeff Hogg of AMON AMARTH, but still manages to sound like a Thrash Metal vocals. But it's the secondary vocals in this record that is really interesting and surprising, bringing in clean vocals in between of the growling vocals, treading more on the lines of Power metal vocals. I believe this style of both growling and clean vocals works really well for VIRGIN SNATCH, creating their unique style and making it more interesting. "Fingerprints" shows the versatility and ability of the band as they bring in phases of melodic slow guitar work and drum beats in the song, while still belting out their trademark riffs. But to the large part, the drum work of Jacko is heavy, bringing out fast paced blast beats all throughout the record, sometimes making it sound like a Brutal Death metal record. "Escape From Tomorrow" has to be one of the most interesting and weird song that I must have heard in Thrash for a long time. While it's not progressive by any means, the stylish clean vocals backed with slow instrumental starting from 1:25 for the next 15 seconds and then taking the song back to the high tempo mode is one of the big surprise factors in the album and I feel guilty of revealing here as it may kill the unique feeling you as a reader may lose while listening to it. The title track "We Serve No One" is a rather disappointing track even with the groovy riffs and the solos, considering the reputation the band has created so far. "No Justice, No Peace" is a much better song, as the band brings in better riffs and the vocals sound more anthemic and clearer as well and listener can have a better understanding of the lyrics in this song than others as the band brings out some anti-Political lyrics. When it's a 10 or more track album, most bands try various different things to keep the listener engrossed and also try to showcase the artistic capabilities in them and the latest trend with most modern bands is to bring in a slow instrumental track. VIRGIN SNATCH does exactly that with "Answers To Nothing", bringing in a slow instrumental of just under 2 min. While the music is disappointing, offering nothing new to the listener, the track could have been better placed either in the beginning or in the end, and frankly could have been better if the band just didn't bring in that song as a whole. The band goes back to its heavy roots with "Under Fire" and the song exactly proves why the previous slow instrumental didn't work, and I must say this is one of the more convincing songs of the album. Continuing the good work, the listener is taken into a different world with a mid tempo song "Promised Land", comprising of exquisite clean singing and crying riffs, and not to forget a few instrumental phases too. The band here shows influence of legendary bands like ARTILLERY and SKID ROW with surprisingly excellent musicianship. The next 2 songs go on a high tempo mode and are moderate in quality, while I have to mention that "Disintegration" has a long great guitar solo in the latter half worth repeated listening if you're a fan of STEVE VAI guitar works. The album finishes of with a mid tempo atmospheric track "Devil's Ride", a very impressive song with some dirty growling vocals and is a great track to finish of this album. The duel style vocals in the album- both guttural and the clean, are quite impressive together and has convinced me that is one of the big USPs of VIRGIN SNATCH sound.
While they do sound old school Thrash, It doesn't sound anything like Bay Area Thrash or even Teutonic Thrash, and somehow create a unique sound of their own, more on the style of a mix of both old school and new school Thrash and also has Groove Metal influences in pieces. The production is modern and is moderate, but I wish the clean vocals could just be heard a little louder (it could be the vocalist style itself to sing slightly at lower pitch).While "We Serve No One" does have its share of flaws as mentioned above, but it's the thumping energetic songs, filled with technically superlative riffage, which will impress the fans of general Heavy Metal, and Thrash Metal and the music is sure to get the band a strong following in those genres.
8 / 10
Excellent
"We Serve No One" Track-listing:
1. Coup de Main (Intro)
2. Sister Revolution
3. Fingerprints
4. Escape From Tomorrow
5. We Serve No One
6. No Justice, No Peace
7. Answers To Nothing (Instrumental)
8. Under Fire
9. Promised Land
10. Vive la Hypocrisie!
11. Disintegration
12. Devil's Ride
Virgin Snatch Lineup:
Jacko - Drums
Grysik - Guitars
Zielony - Vocals
Aniol - Bass
Pawel Pasek - Guitars
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