LACERATION — Realms of the Unconscious (review)

LACERATION — Realms of the Unconscious album cover EP · 2010 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
One of the many excellent bands to have emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area’s fertile thrash metal scene over the years however the band LACERATION which formed in the city of Windsor just north of Santa Rosa wasn’t around when bands like Metallica, Exodus, Forbidden, Possessed Death Angel were making their initial impact on the genre’s nascent style. These guys that formed in 2006 have been around now for 14 years but still haven’t released a bonafide full-length album of any sort. Instead they have left a trail of EPs and demos and have compiled all of the loose fodder as the 2019 compilation “Remnants.”

After releasing the “Demo ’08”, LACERATION followed up with its debut EP “Consuming Reality” but seems to be hard to track down for a listen so i’m making due with this second EP titled REALMS OF THE UNCONSCIOUS. This little gem of extreme metal follows in the footsteps of New York’s Demolition Hammer with a groove oriented bombastic thrash metal approach that mixes in elements of death metal, a rare yet satisfying hybridization if properly done. The band is very retro in its approach and the comparisons to “Tortured Existence” from DH are almost impossible to avoid.

This band has mastered its art quite well despite a lack of creative expressionism as heard on this short EP’s run of a mere three tracks that only amount to almost 17 minutes of playing time. The thrash elements are the most obvious with LACERATION exhibiting a firm command of the Bay Area thrash ethos that made the first and second wave acts so utterly brilliant with those galloping guitar riffs rampaging and soaked in adrenaline along with those tasty guitar solos that add the melodic underbelly of the meaty metal sinew. The death metal aspects come in the form of a more developed drumming style as well as a more guttural vocal approach that sits somewhere between classic thrash and old school death.

This tiny release that features Luke Cazares (vocals, guitars), Corey Toleu (bass), Joey Tabsharani (guitars) and John Haag (drums) is a powerhouse of top notch musicianship that is done so well and is so impressive that i cannot help but give it a well earned four stars despite existing anachronistically in the early 90s with bands like Demolition Hammer being the primary influence. This Bay Area band may not have experienced even an iota of success but clearly demonstrates a passion for the details of such a demanding tightrope act of a deathened thrash metal approach. I really would like to hear a full-length album with a bit more emphasis on adding some more artistic deviations from the status quo. Impressive.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Le bannissement Atmospheric Black Metal
CANTIQUE LÉPREUX
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 10 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 10 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed