IN MALICE`S WAKE - Eternal Nightfall (Independent / 2008)

Geez, what do we have here?! IN MALICE`S WAKE is a young Thrash bunch, that hails from Melbourne and plays some in-your-face Bay Area Thrash with a fine modern sound.

"Eternal Nightfall" is their first full-length, after a demo in 2003 and a following EP. The disc contains 10 tracks + an intro.

After that unholy intro, "Pay the Price", a mid-tempo Thrasher, shows the direction for the following 45 minutes - twin-guitar riffing and powerfull drumming leads to a typical Bay riff, with furious and varying drumming (cool double-bass attacks and rolls) and the awesome vocals by Shaun Farrugia. That guy sounds like the unknown son of Chuck Billy (!) and offers one of the best voices in the "powerfull & harsh" department, I`ve heard in ages!

"Eternal Nightfall" begins with a short drum-intro and then literally destroys everything! Awesome riffs and cool rhythms, combined with drums & bass like a wall and those neckbreaking vocals by Farrugia - shivering stuff! The chorus is sheer power.

"Bitter demise" starts with a very cool effect on the guitar and loads of power. The song`s basically a very heavy mid-tempo stomper, with short high-speed attacks. Cool soloing on here. If the first songs are pretty much in the veins of late 80s classics by Forbidden or Testament, "Bitter Demise" could be coming from "Formation of Damnation".

Basically all the following tracks show that very high quality in songwriting and represent a forceful combination of the best from the 80s and from today. Testament, Forbidden, Sanctity and Negligence are the bands, that are already grazing on the field, where IN MALICE`S WAKE show up. With "Eternal Nightfall", the gauntlet is thrown...

What I like most about this brilliant album is, that this young band combines, in a near perfect way, those classical Thrash standards with fresh, modern parts, that never sound dull or anything. Great effort.

The sound is neither really old-schoolish, nor very modern, but just good. A small let-down is only the snare sound, which is a bit hard and dry, but that doesn`t affect this brilliant output.

I will eat my hat, if this album was the last killer by this fuckin awesome newcomer!

Songs to check: Eternal Nightfall, Pay the Price, Weakness in Numbers, Mental Disarray

94/100


Nick

http://www.myspace.com/inmaliceswake
http://www.inmaliceswake.com

you are good at this

Great band Nick, listened to them!!!!