aglasshouse Many times I've thought it would be a good idea to have a separate genre for metal albums with invasive political themes. The big four have been making songs about the topic since their inception and have been inspiring metal bands to do the same for decades. But eventually there will be a band that reaches the same quality as the pioneers. With 2006's Hatchet, it seems it is time the student becomes the master, and creates perhaps the greatest metal album of 2015. Musically, Hatchet's influence is obviously from 2000's Anvil, with heavy focus on drums and a consistent riff pattern hellbent on belting out music as fast as possible is clear on many tracks. Yet there are many times where the music slows down with either more traditional metal or inclusion of symphonic elements. The opening to the album, 'Where Time Cannot Exist' is a prominent example of echoing melodies that clash with one each-other (perfectly complemented by the fantastic production quality). To be frank, most of the best parts of the album are these such parts and they really bring color to the thrash genre. Vocalist Julz Ramos is a very talented man who would've fit in perfectly with the likes of Steve Kudlow, Dave Mustaine, and Bruce Dickinson. Same goes mostly for the overall playing skill and song composition as a whole. Like the cherry on the proverbial sundae, the wonderful 80's style cover and creative name tops off this entire masterpiece of modern metal. Rock is dead? Get the hell out of here.

I beg you, reader, to listen to this album and give it more attention. It is wonderful, underrated, and deserves more praise.

adg211288 Dawn of the End is the second full-length album by US thrash metal act Hatchet. Released in 2013, the band behind this album is very much Hatchet Mark II as the line-up has almost entirely changed with only frontman Julz Ramos playing on both of Hatchet’s albums, and he actually only becomes the vocalist of the group as of this album since he only played guitar on the debut Awaiting Evil (2008). Dawn of the End has therefore been a long time coming, especially for such a young band.

I haven’t heard the debut album, but I guess whatever they, or maybe I should just say Julz Ramos, did to get here must have worked like a charm. Dawn of the End is as true an album to the thrash metal genre as you’ll ever find and with the one exception of an acoustic piece in Revelations of Good and Evil it’s an absolutely full throttle album of old school energetic aggression with strong musicianship, something which should not be understated despite the general playing it safe vibe the album gives off. The songs that Hatchet play might not break the mould but do sound pretty demanding and are not without their technical or melodic edge.

Speaking personally though, thrash metal and I have never been the best of friends. No matter how strong the musicianship in a thrash band I usually end up not being able to fully appreciate them because of the prevalent aggressive vocal style, which is the style that Hatchet’s Julz Ramos uses. Yet somehow I’ve found myself liking this guy. Maybe after all these years the thrash metal vocal style is finally opening up to me. Or maybe he’s got that special something that even gets a naysayer on his side. I think I’ll leave that up to you readers to decide, all that matters right now is that Hatchet are here to kick your arse in true thrash metal style. They have the musicianship, they have the attitude and they most especially have the songs to do it, with some personal favourites from the very much high quality album including Silenced by Death, Screams of the Night, Signals of Infection and Vanishing Point.

Dawn of the End has proved to be one of those enigma albums for me. On paper, I shouldn’t like this. I should appreciate what Hatchet did here on my professional objective level, but I shouldn’t like it. But I do. Tell a lie, I don’t like it, I love it. This is an infectious sort of album that will keep you coming back for more and more. An exceptional grade rating is deserved.

89/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/hatchet-dawn-of-the-end-t2886.html))

UMUR "Dawn of the End" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US thrash metal act Hatchet. The album was released through The End Records in March 2013. It´s been five long years since the release of the band´s debut full-length studio album "Awaiting Evil (2008)", which is a bit unusual considering that "Awaiting Evil (2008)" helped put Hatchet at the forefront of the retro thrash wave. It appears that the band have had quite a few lineup changes in the years between the two albums though, so that might be one explanation for the long time between release dates.

The music on "Dawn of the End" is retro sounding US thrash metal. There are literally thousands of acts playing this style of music out there, but few manage to nail the sound of the eighties as Hatchet do. While they don´t sound like a clone of any particular act from the golden days of thrash, I´d say at least Exodus haven´t lived in vain. So with the whole "not being original" talk out of the way, let´s celebrate how much the 10 tracks on the 46:04 minutes long album kick ass (well one of them is an acoustic guitar piece, but otherwise this is headbanger friendly music). This is simply retro sounding US thrash metal deluxe...

A raw sounding lead vocalist with a badass attitude, catchy thrashy riffing, great solo work and a pounding, aggressive rythm section. All packed in a powerful sounding production and delivered by skilled musicians "Dawn of the End" is a high quality thrash metal album. If you can live with the fact that these guys don´t exactly invent the wheel, I can highly recommend "Dawn of the End". A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.