True story - just recently, I was thinking to myself, "You know what? I haven't heard a good thrash album in a long time." Unbeknownst to me, at that exact moment "Spread the Fire" by next-gen Bay Area thrashers FUELED BY FIRE was already en route to pillage my mailbox. Long story short, before you can say NUCLEAR ASSAULT, all my craving has been satisfied and then some!

Beyond the standard tuning riffs, what really makes this disc authentic (apart from where it was conceived) has got to be that classic, dry guitar tone that sounds straight out of 1985! Of course, who they have behind the mixer does make a difference, and that would be no other than Joey Vera - a choice that shows just how much faith Mr. Slagel has in this disc. Musically, they're a combination of equal parts EXODUS, HIRAX, DESTRUCTION and the first MAIDEN disc. Clearly one can expect mostly palm-muted speed picking throughout this thing, but don't mistake those occasional dual-lead harmonies for new-school melodic death influence - to these ears, it's the best classic MAIDEN emulation since, well, MAIDEN themselves. As far as frontman Gio's vocals, put together the monotone yelling of Katon DePena and the falsetto screams of a "Show No Mercy" Tom Araya. And just like any thrash throwback worth a damn, there's a fair share of shameless borrowing, whether it's the hook in "Dreams of Terror" that sounds an awful lot like "Kill As One" by DEATH ANGEL, or the phrasing in "Thrash Is Back" (where else have I heard someone tell me to "bang your head against the stage"?). This of course just tells diehard thrashers just how much respect these kids have for the genre.

But what saves this disc from falling into the "been there, done that" category is the overall fun factor, which is absolutely sky-high. Between the instrumental intro "Ernest Goes to Hell" and the interrupted Bach in "Massive Execution", it shows that these guys have a much-appreciated sense of humor. To top it all off, these guys win Album Cover of the Year with their, um, statement on the emo scene! To put it all together, "Spread the Fire" is the breath of fresh air that thrashers have been waiting years for, and if the genre does finally make a true comeback, expect these guys to be at the forefront. Thrash 'till death!!

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/fueledbyfire

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