Kev Rowland It took until 2016 for the Finns to come back with their third album, and even though it is the same quartet who played on the first two, this feels like a totally different band. Yes, they are more polished, as one would expect from a band that now knew what they were doing in a studio, along with the fact that they had been playing live a great deal, but none of that explains why they are now performing fairly standard heavy metal, with a few slight thrash influences. Samy Elbanna has never been the best singer in the world, but he got away with it when the band were trying to beat the sound barrier. Now it has all been slowed right down from where it was, and as someone who really enjoyed how the band used to sound, I found myself being incredibly disappointed. Lost Society used to have a real shot at breaking through some barriers with the way they approached the thrash genre, but with this album they have lost their way. Now, we all know that Megadeth has released the odd duff album, and Metallica haven’t done anything worthwhile since Cliff passed away, so maybe there’s hope for them yet. Let’s hope there is a significant return to form for the next one.

Kev Rowland

2014 saw the mad flying Finns return with their second album, following on from ‘Fast Loud Death’ which came out the previous year. In my review of that album I said, “If you want something that allows you to lose the dandruff, that combines passion and polish with power and raw naivety then this will be of interest,” and to be honest not much has changed. This is good old fashioned thrash that sounds as if it has come straight of the Eighties Bay Area, but with a modern sounding production. Both guitarists can really play, and they have plenty of aggression and punch which means that the listener tends to forgive them for playing at warp factor 9 for the whole album.

The difference between this and some of the other thrash albums around is that these guys have decided that if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so no new modern sub genres being brought to play, but rather taken Raven and Megadeth and mix it with some hardcore punk attitude, plug in, and see you at the end. This is thrash, nothing less, and just possibly a whole lot more. These guys may only be doing one thing, but they do it incredibly well indeed.

Kev Rowland 17, 18, 19, 19. No, that’s not today’s lottery numbers, but the age of this old-school thrash outfit. Founded early 2010 in Jyväskylä by thrash/speed metal enthusiast Samy Elbanna, the front man established a band that played anywhere and everywhere that they could. They took part in the Glbal Battle of the Bands and won the right to represent Finland at the finals in the UK. Being signed to Nuclear Blast has obviously given this young band a great advantage and Nino Laurenne (Amorphis, Ensiferum, Lordi) took over the production duties at the famous Sonic Pump Studios (Finntroll, Sonata Arctica, Omnium Gatherum etc). The result is an album that in many ways could have been recorded more than twenty years ago, but with a guitar sound that is very much of today. But how does it stack up against the greats?

Well, it’s okay, possibly nothing more and definitely nothing less. These young guys can really play and while the vocals and lyrics aren’t exactly anything to write about they pound through at a rate of knots and there is obviously as much a Sex Pistols influence as there is Megadeth. This album has already charted in their native Finland, but in the rest of the world this is probably going to be seen as more of a door opener, as they get to jump onto some tours. I reckon these guys supporting Evile would be something to see, and it will be interesting to see how they progress from here. If you want something that allows you to lose the dandruff, that combines passion and polish with power and raw naivety then this will be of interest. www.nuclearblast.de