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Ok say it with me everyone; don’t judge a book by its cover. That familiar cliché will repeat itself over and over in your head while listening to the debut album of Dutch thrashers, Fentanyl entitled, “Feeble Existence.” I’ll get into the actual cover and layout in a minute, but when I first saw it, I couldn’t help but smirk. That smirk was wiped off of my face soon.
Fentanyl cites their influences to thrash legends such as Testament, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax and the final product does not disappoint. “Feeble Existence” pays total homage to ‘80s thrash and it just as aggressive and riff-fueled as anything from that time period. Upon first listen through the entire album, I went from being pleasantly surprised to full headbang. The Slayer-esque riffs are aplenty as are some truly excellent solos and leads. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought this was recorded in the late eighties. Even the open-ended, “recorded in a warehouse” type production is spot on to that classic thrash sound. Make no mistake, unlike a lot of newer thrash bands these days who claim to be directly influenced by the thrash legends of old, the members of Fentanyl actually pull it off. And just for good measure, the song “Last Amputated Memoirs” is their self-proclaimed “ode to Motorhead” which is nothing but full blown Motorhead worship and well-received on this end. With eleven songs barely clocking in over thirty minutes, you get the idea that there are no elongated, drawn out songs full of repetition or filler. The songs are all short and to the point and in your face. The way good old thrash was meant to be played. They even threw in a brief yet elegant instrumental about halfway through to kind of break the flow only to come back full force. I can only imagine that Fentanyl is a complete blast to see live. These guys know their shit. Lyrically, “Feeble Existence” centers on war, death and morbid social issues. For instance, the song “Deep Shit” is about a submarine or some kind of warship that gets attacked and all the sailors who get stuck underneath and drown; three songs about gas attacks and then the song “Chernobyl” which should be self explanatory. Typical thrash topics. The layout is actually pretty impressive for a self released album. Nice glossy insert and professional black and white band photos. It lends credence to how dedicated they are towards their music as they won’t shy away from an expense in order to create a good product. The cover itself is what I was alluding to in my initial paragraph. It’s an ocean scene of a duck, looks like a mallard, being chased or pursued by a giant battleship. Or perhaps, if the intention wasn’t for the duck to be chased, then the thought is that the duck’s “existence” is “feeble” considering the greater powers at work in its environment that could ultimately threaten its life. I understand the imagery; I get the message of the scene, but to me it looks rather goofy and quite amateurish to be perfectly honest. My only complaint about the music is the vocals. They’re sort of spoken loudly with almost zero energy. Not much force or aggression at all. I kind of got used to them after several spins, but they still remain the only detriment to the music. All in all, this is a very solid debut album that I would recommend to most classic thrash enthusiasts. Good job guys. | |
