NOCTURNAL BREED - Aggressor (La Crypt Metal Shop) (Jewelcase CD)
Norway | Thrash/Black
Detailed Description
A killer piece of Scandinavian black/thrash that should be a lot more popular than it is, especially considering how it pre-dated the "retro thrash" scene by a few years. With the album cover (which is easily one of the best of the late 90's) having a bunch of fighter planes in the background with some sort of apocalyptic warrior on the front, your first thought could be "This is going to sound like Sodom". As it turns out, Nocturnal Breed is clearly going for a Teutonic thrash sound, with Kreator seeming to be a prime influence. The Brazilian death/thrash scene seems to be a significant influence as well, especially songs like "Alcoholic Rites", which reeks of the old-school Sepultura/Sarcofago sound. Motorhead and Venom are other obvious influences, more so with the drum beats and general attitude of the music than anything else. "Maggot Master" is easily the best song on the album, with its catchy main riff with a drum beat that should inspire fits of spontaneous headbanging. Younger listeners could compare the track to a rawer version of Skeletonwitch, and the guitar solo is unusually, for lack of a better word, beautiful, which isn't something you usually see in the heavier genres of metal. The adrenaline rush that this song provides is worth the price of purchase alone, but the rest of the album is almost as good as "Maggot Master". "Aggressor" also contains a Death cover, "Evil Dead" (one of Death's best songs), although this is just the icing on the cake whenever one considers how great the rest of the album is. Other standouts on the album include "Revelation 666", "Metal Storm Rebels", and the aforementioned "Alcoholic Rites", which could easily have been B-sides to "Bestial Devastation" (albeit with slightly better production). The best word one could use to describe these songs is "savage", because they take no prisoners with their whirlwind of riffs. Vocally, this album is very reminiscent of "Pleasure to Kill"-era Kreator, as previously mentioned, although there is a tinge of black metal in the shrieks as well. The screams inspire thoughts of, alternately, a victim of a senseless war, or a vengeful demon hell-bent on causing as much havoc as he can. Nocturnal Breed's "Aggressor" is highly recommended for fans of old-school thrash or fans of black/thrash.
Even fans of newer thrash bands like Skeletonwitch or Toxic Holocaust should take delight in the brutal thrash that awaits them on this album.
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