Reviewed - 08/28/05

I, Infidel
[The End Records]

When the Thrash scene lays almost dead in the USA, what should we all do to get our much needed dose of head banging Thrash Metal? Look to older Thrash bands that are still around? Ummm, well sometimes. That can be hit or miss though. Look to Europe? Nope. Look to "retro" thrash bands? That can also be hit or miss as well. What I recommend to you is to look to the Land Of The Rising Sun. Might sound odd, but Japan's Ritual Carnage has released one of the best Thrash albums I've heard in quite a few years with their newest album "I, Infidel".

The Thrash on "I, Infidel" doesn't remind me of the early 80's Thrash bands at all. Instead it reminds me of the late 80's bands like Forbidden, Forced Entry and Vio-lence. A bit more technical and polished than the early and mid 80's Thrash bands, "I, Infidel" never lets the listener forget what great Thrash used to be like. And since Ritual Carnage has been around since the real early 90's, "I, Infidel" can't be called a retro album either. Nope, it's just plainly and simply an old Thrash album played by a band that was around at the time, and that will be evident as soon as you hear it for the first time. You won't be able to help banging your head to it's mesmerizing beats, and don't be surprised if while listening to this you start wishing you had a few people around to start a mosh pit. It does have a lot of that old school "mosh" feeling, and it gets your adrenaline going. All of the musicians in Ritual Carnage are extremely professional and not only play their respective instruments well, but know how to write some damn good music to boot. The drummer kicks ass, and guitarists Eddie Van Koide and Wataru Yamada are frigging AMAZING! They are among the best guitar duo's I've ever heard. Their power chords just crush, their melodies and riffs are amazing, and their solos will shred you to itty bitty pieces.

The vocals are the one sticking point of the album. Vocalist Danny Carnage is good, and sounds like a melodic cross between Russ Anderson (Metal God!) of Forbidden and Sean Killian of Vio-Lence. Thing is, he's not as powerful as either aforementioned vocalists and he rarely adds any variety to his vocals. When I listen to Danny, I get a bit frustrated because he always seems to be just on the verge of screaming insanely like Russ Anderson used to, but he never does. I think if Danny would have let go and belt out a banshee scream here and there on this album it would have been a much better experience. That said, he is a good vocalist and does things in a totally 80's way, which I love. The lyrics deal with war, government conspiracies, politics, religion and terrorism. Danny looks to be a white dude like me, and his vocal tracks were recorded in the USA, so maybe he is the lone non-Japanese member of the band?

The production is flawless and is so good that it really is the only thing that would make a listener think this was recorded recently and not in the 80's. The guitar sound is blissfully distorted to perfection and the drums pound through the mix with enough power to make you Male listeners sterile.

The artwork for the cover of "I, Infidel" was done by Petagno, who became popular for doing the Motorhead album covers. I've never been much of a fan of his art, really. He has his own style for sure and paints really dark images, but he doesn't have very much detail at all in his work. The painting for this piece has a bit of detail when it comes to the army of people arrayed on the cover, but it's still a bit lacking in my opinion. The inside of the booklet has all of the lyrics as well as a photo of each band member.

Older Thrash fans rejoice! No longer do you have to sit around and wait for Exodus, Overkill or Testament to come out with their sporadic new albums to get your Thrash fix. Run out and buy yourself a copy of "I, Infidel" today! Make sure you buy yourself some whiplash insurance first!