Time Signature Slave of metal...

Genre: thrash metal

Assassin are among the pioneers of the Teutonic thrash metal scene. Despite their seniority on the thrash metal scene, "Combat Cathedral", which follows up on 2011's "Breaking the Silence", is only the band's fifth album.

Solidly positioned in the thrash metal genre, "Combat Cathedral" is a thrash-fest from beginning to end. Featuring fierce drums and breakneck thrash metal riffage. The key element that defines the album is aggression, and most of the songs emphasize speed. That is not to say that "Combat Cathedral" is not a heavy album. The crunch of the guitars and the overall production of the album add a dimension of heaviness and even quasi-brutality at times.

Overall, the compositions are strong, and the album is very solid. It lacks a bit in the variation-department, but I am not sure variation is what people want from the album anyway. Also, it should be pointed out that we are not at all dealing with monotonous music here. There are changes in tempo and enough compositional finesse that the album remains interesting.

The performance is rock solid, and the production is crisp. As mentioned above, the production supports the music very well. The vocals. which fall somewhere between Lemmy and Phil Anselmo, may perhaps not be in everybody's taste, but I kind of like it.

Overall, this is a solid and fierce thrash metal release which should appeal - not just to fans of Teutonic thrash metal - but to fans of thrash metal as such.