CHAINBREAKER - Wasteland City

Release date April 17/18 (Bandcamp)

Slayer retiring and the greying of the rest of the Big Four could be interpreted as a cause for concern for the future of thrash metal. The truth couldn't be further from the truth though, thankfully. The ranks of up-and-coming youthful thrash bands continues to grow unabated. There's the straight up thrash horde, along with a host of thrash hybrid-ists (black/thrash, death/thrash, black/speed/thrash et al) coming out of the woodwork seemingly daily. You can now add Chainbreaker to that ever-expanding list of thrash enthusiasts making their mark.

In this case, the Austrian unit's debut album is chockablock with traditional thrash, along with a hint of speed metal thrown in for good measure. What is immediately obvious is the skill level of the instrumentalists, the guitar and rhythm section absolutely in lock-step throughout the ten-track, thirty-eight minutes. In fact, the quick-picking rhythm guitar work brings to mind the mighty Kill 'Em All in places (refer 'Mind Control' - wow) and the excellent bass guitar will have you reaching for the headphones.

However, the vocals and clean guitar soloing refer more to Exodus, the lead vocals sitting somewhere between Baloff and Souza, while the team-shout backing vocals also ring familiar. That said, these are just influences. Chainbreaker have their own unique sound and I, for one, can't wait to hear more.

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