Blackened Thrash
Metal Blade
Release date – October 28th 2022
Line Up:
Gustaf Jorde – Vocals/Bass
Lars Lofven – Guitar
Matte Modin – Drums
Tracklist:
1 – Bent Out Of Shape
2 – Grind Over Matter
3 – One Grave To Fit Them All
4 – Heavy Haul
5 – Dear Devil
6 – Staring Blind
7 – Blood Well Spent
8 – Unburdened By Genius
9 – Behind Dead Eyes
10 – Blastbeast
11 – Last Nail In The Coffin
Formed In Uppsala, Sweden in 1991 Defleshed released five quality blackened thrash albums up until 2005 when Gustaf Jorde stated that the band was finished. All the members went off to other projects then last year decided to reform and write a few tunes. I have no idea what prompted the return, unfinished business. Maybe? But I’m glad they have come back because this is some fabulous blackened thrash.
Opener ‘Bent Out Of Shape’ doesn’t hang about and gets straight into the brutality with a banging riff and some serious beats from Matte Modin. The title track continues the good work with some excellent vocals from Jorde – just sing along. ‘One Grave To Fit Them All’ is a proper thrasher in the vein of Sodom. It swings and bounces most evilly before ‘Heavy Haul’ steps up the pace which is just relentless. ‘Dear Devil’ rips it up with some more chugging riffage before vicious ‘Staring Blind’ gives us some neck-snapping thrash then ‘Blood Well Spent’ gets nastier and quicker. ‘Unburdened By Genius’ is just full-on pit-inducing violent metal than ‘Behind Dead Eyes’ brings some groove metal on a slower pace before ‘Blastbeast’ does what it says – blasts on a beast of a tune. The final cut ‘Last Nail In The Coffin’ is just under three minutes of foreboding and Jorde telling us how it is and how its gonna be. Not pretty!
OMG! This thing is a beast, unmerciful – so get ready for the aural battering you’re going to receive from this bastard trio of unapologetic thrashers. Welcome back, boys.
Score: 9/10
Reviewed by: Smudge