Released By : RAW/TSL
Genre : Thrash Metal
Links : http://www.myspace.com/webthrashmetal
Tacklist:
01. Life Aggression
02. Mortal Soul
03. Resilient Casket
04. Awake
05. As We Crawl
06. House Of Salvation
07. (In)Sanity
08. Beautiful Obsession
09. The Journey
Portugese thrash metal act WEB have been actually on the scene since way back in 1986, when two of the roadies for the band TARANTULA decided they’d had enough of lugging other people’s gear and decided to collaborate and get a band going. There has been a lot of things standing in the band’s way since the beginning, anything from chronic illnesses and forced military duty but somehow along the way they became a very well respected live act, managing to play just about everywhere and gathering a pretty dedicated fan base along the way, interestingly enough though DEVIANCE is only the band’s second full length album and their first since 2005’s WORLD WIDE WEB.
I hear some doom metal here and there throughout this album, but as a whole it’s more like a slower, brooding version of thrash metal with slight progressive tendencies. The guitars have that really thick lower-end sound and when they mix it up with the deep bass grooves there is plenty of meat in the sound. Fernando Martins’ vocals are guttural and understandable at the same time and times remind me a little bit of Tom Araya. The closest bands I can compare the sound of this album to would probably be LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR or Britain band SACRILEGE, but there is also a few other things that poke their heads through from time to time including SLAYER, MEGADETH, AGALLOCH and HIGH ON FIRE.
The band has chosen AWAKE as the single for the album and rightly so too, it’s clearly the best tune on offer and features a real nineties thrash metal vibe with a very doom based chugging chorus. MORTAL SOUL, HOUSE OF SALVATION and BEAUTIFUL OBSESSION are the three other tracks that I found myself going back to the most and all are worthy doom/thrash beasts. There is a very few thrash bands around these days that can successfully incorporate elements of doom metal into their sound, but that’s where the experience of WEB shines through, they are doing this very comfortably and hopefully this new album is the beginning of a resurgence from the band, they offer up just enough to stand out from the crowd and their new album DEVIANCE comes highly recommended.
Written By ZeeZee
Rating : 7/10