Reign of Fury - Death Be Thy Shepherd

Any dedicated record collector will deny that old adage "You can't judge an album by its cover" and then tell you a story about the album or albums that they bought solely because of the cover and then they found out that the music was also solid and the purchase was worth it for more than just the artwork. From the moment I laid eyes on the cover of the second album from UK band Reign of Fury, I didn't know whether it would be death or thrash metal but I suspected it would be right up my alley and knew it would be one of the two metal sub-genres. Reign of Fury are not death but straight up no-nonsense thrash metal.

The band's sound is very much 80's metal. There's a little bit of "And Justice For All" Metallica here and there. At times vocalist Bison Steed sounds like a youthful James Hetfield. A number of the all-in shouts hark back to Tesament's "Practice What You Preach" which followed the Metallica blueprint that countless bands were following back in the day. Remember UK metallers Onslaught's "In Search of Sanity" album? Metallica had a song called "Frayed Ends of Sanity" and Reign of Fury have a song called "Gates of Sanity". Reign of Fury clearly aren't looking to reinvent the wheel and just want you to headbang along to their thrash and with songs like "Hypnotise the Masses" they succeed at their goal. Bison's vocals are melodic although not in the Joey Belladonna style and fit the band's Bay Area style of thrash. The bridges work well and the band are tight as hell.

"All is Lost" is the obligatory ballad. Haha, remember on "Practice What You Preach" that Testament simply named theirs "The Ballad". Reign of Fury's ballad does speed up into more traditional metal territory. For straight out thrash, it's difficult to go past "The Love of a Dying God", with its speedy intro and all-in shouts. The tempo does slow down a little but it's only so the band catch a small breath so that they can speed up again. The band works the slow/fast dynamics really well in this particular tune making it one of the album's highlights. "Sorrow Made Flesh" cops a number of Metallica riffs but it isn't quite paint by numbers as Reign of Fury manage to inject a little of their own style there largely due to Bison's vocals. The title track "Death Be They Shepherd" is the longest track on the album and clocks in at over ten minutes. Fortunately the band knowing when to speed up and when to slow down doesn't make the song seem quite that long

Reign of Fury might not be setting any new ground but in this day and age, what recent thrash metal band does? Reign of Fury and "Death Be Thy Shepherd" should be checked out for those looking for decent late 80's style thrash metal or just solid thrash metal. The full album is streaming on the bandcamp link below so check it out.

3/5




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Reign of Fury - Death Be They Shepherd on bandcamp

Amok - Somewhere In Time

  Many of the UK thrash metal bands back in the 80's never managed to get into the first or second tier.  Xentrix and Slammer are possibly the only thrashers from that period of time and corner of the world that ever managed to leave an impression but it was never as large as their German and American cousins.

  Decades later Evile have fought their way into the first tier of retro-thrash but there's a Scottish band called Amok following hot on their heels.  These guys don't sound the average pub metal band who have plugged away for years playing the requisite Metallica/Megadeth and Slayer due to the melodic vocals of Stephen Matulevicze   being close to Joey Belladonna which lends Amok that sound Anthrax achieved when they were on the top of their game.  There are a few moments here and there were he sounds like late 80's Chuck Billy as some of the echo effects could have come from "Practice What You Preach" .  This is a thrash metal frontman isn't scared to prove that he has singing ability.  When was the last time you heard an Anthrax cover in your favorite music dive bar?  Yeah, I can't remember either.  Deciphering the lyrics isn't difficult due to the vocals and the fact that they come through crisp and clearly.

The music backing up the vocals is largely reminiscent of Anthrax too.  The riffing is crunchy and technical and backed with strong speedy drumming. Despite the speed, it never sound like the individual musicians are competing in a race to the finish line.   It's not all full-on thrash either as some of the guitar sounds are clearly from the Maiden songbook but throughout "Somewhere in the West", it's Joey Belladonna period Anthrax that come to mind.  "Lawbreakers" has an undeniable New York sound as there's a tinge of New York hardcore bands like Gorilla Biscuits in the guitar sound and rhythm section.   Some may write Amok off as a clone band but in an age of  Cookie Monster soundalike bands putting brutality ahead of writing music , Amok's easily accessible Anthrax sound is both very welcome and highly enjoyable.  Wherever you are on the globe, it's time to listen to Amok run so make time to kill time and click their bandcamp link to listen this album.

3.5/5

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