UMUR
"Sovereign" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian/US thrash metal act Tenet. The album was released through Century Media Records in July 2009. Tenet is a project formed by guitarist Jed Simon (Zimmer's Hole, Strapping Young Lad) in 1996. However it was only years later that he gathered a crew of seasoned musicians to complete the project. Tenet is what you could rightfully call a "supergroup". In addition to Jed Simon on guitars, the band consist of Byron Stroud (Zimmer's Hole, Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory) on Bass, Glen Alvelais (Forbidden, Testament) on Guitars, Steve “Zetro” Souza (Exodus) on Vocals and Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory) on Drums.
The quality of the musicianship is heard from the first note. The playing is tight, sharp and powerful, which would be a good description of the material too. This is aggressive thrash metal with good variation between fast paced thrashers and mid-paced heavier tracks. Steve “Zetro” Souza is instantly recognisable. If you are a fan of his snarling vocal delivery and raspy voice, you won´t be surprised that his performance on "Sovereign" reeks of class. The rest of the band is extremely well playing too, and it´s a joy listening to music this well executed. The sound production is a bit clinical and hard on the ears, but I´d say it suits the aggressive music fine. As three of the members had also been members of Strapping Young Lad for years, you´d expect a heavy influence from that band in the music, and while there are certainly elements here and there that remind me of that band, the music on "Sovereign" is generally more "straight" thrash metal.
"Sovereign" doesn´t feature the most original sounding material out there, but it´s damn well executed and the 34:28 minutes long album is over before you know it (which in my world is almost always a quality stamp). A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is well deserved.