Ah, Thrash Metal, my old friend. Like a loyal Labrador lovingly bringing my slippers to me every morning, or also like a loyal drug dealer - you always have some good shit for me to have a go with. This week, we're on WITCHTRAP. Apparently, they hail from Colombia, which is interesting because it has absolutely nothing to do with this sentence's subject matter or joke punch line at all. How 'bout that...

Anyway, what we have here is a surprisingly good find in an otherwise forgettable sea of forgettable stuff you don't need to see. In the few months I've been doing this, I've probably had to pad out so many reviews with bullshit jokes because I didn't know what to say because the nature of the music in question was questionable in nature and not worth divulging on. That's not the case here.

While it definitely sounds a bit rough around the edges, "Vengeance is My Name" does not fail to deliver some very kickass Thrash riffage and excellent lead work. If you want good Thrash Metal, you got to have the thrash riff down to a science like it's a science. And they do that. Top marks to the vocals, as well. Many thrash bands these days seem to go overboard with their vocals and just end up sounding like a pissed off Grover (from Sesame Street? Anyone?) getting into it with his waitress because his soup has a shoe in it. Luckily, Burning Axe Ripper skims his vocal style perfectly on that thin line between being too soft to entice or too rough to follow. Well done, sir. Tell Mr. and Mrs. Axe Ripper they raised their son well - in the Thrash vocal manner, anyway. I suppose it's possible they abused you and never played catch with you, but that doesn't seem particularly relevant.

As for the other instrumentation, let me get to that. The drum work of Witchhammer is not to be over looked. No, he isn't kicking it like Gene Hoglan - but dammit can he keep a good beat going, and that isn't the easiest in this genre. On the topic of bass work, all I can really say is that if there was a medal for "Most Enthusiastic Harmonized Root Notes", then Enforcer definitely has a good shot at winning whatever that prize bestows.

No, I wasn't blown out the water like I received a blowjob from the Kraken, but I was certainly pleased. It was good. Perhaps good enough to listen to again? That's the real test of any good music release for the critic: Do you listen to it after your professional duties of reviewing it are done? Yes, I think it does pass that test.

Having said that, I'll probably burn a copy of this album for my friends to have a listen to. I'd recommend they pay for it, but this is 2012 and nobody pays for anything when the internet can get you anything you want for free. Sorry, but it's the truth.