NYC band, five cuts, most in the 5+ minute range, and all reeking of the stuff that makes traditional metal enthusiasts drool like the Pavlovian dog watching Burger King commercials.

'Nary a sign of detuning, at least none that I can detect. The vocals are primitive and gritty, and the tunes are tight, super raw echoes of classic hm and thrash. There's some MASTODON-worship in there, too. The riffs and changes are structured like GOD FORBID, SHADOWS FALL, and a lot of the other watery frappe Century Media metal stuff that just bores me to tears. But the absence of annoying kick-drum ticking and presence of guitarist Jeff Jardine's snarly vocals, all baked in a luscious envelope of supreme rawness ends up sounding more like early MEGADETH, BLIND ILLUSION and the first couple of SLAYER albums when you could still pick out the MAIDEN and PRIEST riff-copping. Plus, you get some clean acoustic interludes and other dynamics, sort of reminiscent of OPETH changes, and the guitar harmonies sound teriffic.

Intentional or not, the whole thing strikes with a bit of that classic west coast heavy metal vibe from 1985-88. It's unpolished and you can hear some rough ends poking out here and there, which just adds to the charm. What I'm thinking is that either some of these guys are into the classic stuff and MALSTROM could be a band to watch for, or the next full-length with a bigger budget will be closer to the modern-day "throw the horns" metal bands mentioned above. I hope it's the former. Check out the picture on their homepage, one of those great thrash picture collages like the inner sleeve of your favorite NASTY SAVAGE record. Could it be that this band will unintentionally create a stream of followers composed of 40+ year old former Kerrang! writers and metal fans that actually saw METALLICA perform with Burton? Stranger things have happened. At any rate, I can't get enough of this demo. Wish we got in more stuff like this.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.malstrom.net

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.