Released By Violent Journey Records – Out Now
Genre: Thrash Metal
Links: http://www.myspace.com/aodgalleryofpain
Line Up:
Kimmo Osmo: All Guitars
Pasi Osmo: Bass
Mika Louma: Vocals
Jussi Samppala: Drums
Tracklist:
1. Altars Of Destruction
2. Aggression
3. Children Of Misfortune
4. Guilty Or Not
5. Cross The Line (Of No Return)
6. Heroes Of The New World
7. Suicide…Are You Fucking Insane
8. Gallery Of Pain
9. Day Of Judgement
Sometimes it can take a band a fair while from their inception to the release of their first album, but surely Finnish Thrash Metal underground kings ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION must hold the record. 2010 sees the release of the band’s debut album GALLERY OF PAIN, a massive 24 years after their birth. O.K so in between then and now the guys have released a couple of E.P’s and even disbanded for a while, but 24 years is still a bloody long time to wait for a debut album!
ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION have gathered for themselves a bit of cult following worldwide, so I guess the question with this album isn’t how good is it, the question is was it worth the wait?
For the most part the answer is a resounding yes, and the band’s brutal, uncompromising, old-school brand of pure thrash metal is good enough to show up most of the young thrash revivalists of the last few years, and could challenge some of the major releases we’ve had this year from some of the other thrash veterans.
Maybe the reason GALLERY OF PAIN has a decided old-school feel to it is that seven of the nine tracks on offer are actually re-recordings of some demos from the band’s past, or maybe it’s just because vocalist MIKA LOUMA is a near-on dead-ringer for TOM ARAYA. Not in a copycat way, he just has a very similar approach as ARAYA does, and of course this particular vocal style sounds totally perfect when placed on top of some no-frills squealy guitar thrash riffs.
Pure chug-a-thon thrashers like ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION, GUILTY OR NOT, CROSS THE LINE and DAY OF JUDGEMENT deserve to be heard be anyone with more than a passing interest in thrash metal and given the right exposure, I am sure that these songs can find a very willing new audience, which would be a great fairy-tale 24 years too late.
I am hoping that the band decide to stick around a little longer, as I think they could release a better album with some more songs that aren’t re-treads from days gone by, it just remains to be seen wether or not there is enough room in the trash metal landscape for yet another excellent, unashamedly old-school band that deserve bigger and better things. Very recommended!
Written By ZeeZee
Rating: 8/10
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