German punk rock veterans Betontod released their brand new full length whose title means We’ve Only Just Started! I must admit this is the first time I have listened to this band and I liked what I heard. This one contains thirteen songs of punk and rock songs most of them being in German language which is not a problem for me, because I am fluent in German since my high school days. Some of the songs I liked more, some less, so the opener All die schonen Menschen(All The Pretty People) didn’t work out for me a lot. But, there are couple of hits after that, one of them being Du killst mich(You Are Killing Me), having an anthemic and catchy chorus just made for singing along at gigs. You can also hear a little keyboard work in Alles fur den Content(All For Content). If you are looking for fast and raw punk here you won’t find one. But, if you love more rock side of punk with quality songwriting, you will love this one. Most of the songs have anthemic and grand choruses, lyrics are smart and personal, but well written too. As couple of my personal highlights I must also name the title song, also beautiful Fur dich(For You), Keep Calm And Carry On and Vielleicht sind wir die Letzten(Maybe We Are Last). I like this album.
Ethereal Tomb are hailing from Canada and they were formed in 2021. This is their third full length opus and it contains eight songs. The music of Ethereal Tomb is very heavy, very harsh mixture of doom metal and sludge with slow rolling thundering drums, double bass, smart use of samples which rules in my opinion at the start of the album, there are also tortured vocals screaming about suffering, death, hate and similar lyrical themes. If I must compare it with some band it would be EyeHateGod minus punk influences, but it kept originality not simply copying some band in the scene. Ethereal Tomb are more metalized than aforementioned band. The songs are not long as it usually could be case in this genre, so that is another plus for this record, because it doesn’t get boring for a second. Life is hard. Be harder. If you are fan of gritty, harsh, bleak and hopeless sludge doom metal with occasional slight guitar melody, check out this beauty. My personal favorites on this one are Abandon Suffering, Unbecoming and Death Of The Indian. Gotta love raw emotions these guys deliver in your face!
One of the thrash metal’s Big 4, New York’s Anthrax are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year. being formed in Queens in 1981. What better way to celebrate it than with brand new full length album? This one contains eleven songs with opener Persistence Of Memory being an instrumental intro to the songs on this album. Besides groove and thrash metal guitar work this album contains lots of melody and catchy guitar hooks topped with Joey Belladonna’s great vocal lines who sounds more convincing than ever. Charlie Benante is one of best metal drummers out there and listen to this record and it will show you this fact. Also, guitar solos on this one are just perfect. The Long Goodbye is one of my personal highlights of the album containing both superb almost melancholic melody and great guitar riffs and solo. There are of course some faster songs like great It’s For The Kids which was smartly chosen as a single from the album. The second longest song besides fantastic almost seven minutes long The Edge Of Perfection on this album is just above six minutes long title song which I must also emphasize as being one of my favorites on this album. Also, NYC 93 and My Victory did move and shake my sorry ass around the room while listening. But, Anthrax released a good album for their anniversary, it is not definitely in my top three of their albums, but it is in top five or six. Thrash metal forever!
