UMUR "Raising the Corpse" is the debut full-length studio album by Chile based thrash metal act Ripper. The album was released through Underground Defenders Productions in May 2014. Ripper was founded in 2007 and has released several demos and other minor releases before releasing "Raising the Corpse".

The music on "Raising the Corpse" is old school thrash metal influenced by the European thrash metal school. 1984 - 1986 Kreator is probably the most valid reference, but Ripper sounds like a lot of bands from that time, taking various elements from their favorite artists and putting them together to form their own music. This is hardly original and Ripper has not managed to create a unique take on the genre, so "Raising the Corpse" is basically for fans of raw and authentic sounding retro thrash metal. Because there´s nothing wrong with the authenticity of what Ripper does. These guys have created a furious, relatively well played, and raw sounding release in the genre, which can easily compete with other releases in the better half of the genre.

Musically this is pretty much as generic as it gets (which in this case isn´t necessarily a critique), with harsh pounding beats, relatively simple thrashy riffing (both fast- and mid paced), and a lead vocalist with a rusty staccato roar. Song titles like "Await Your Death", "Vomiting Blood", and "People Kill the People", further enhance that feeling.

So honestly I´m a bit biased when it comes to rating "Raising the Corpse" as on one hand I´m well entertained if I set my expectations to listening to a straight old school thrash metal release of the European school, but on the other hand the predictability of it all is a bit of a turn off and the album also becomes a bit one-dimensional only a couple of songs into the tracklist. Still you can´t deny quality and putting my biased feelings and demand for a more original sound aside, this is still a good quality release within the genre, deserving a 3.5 star (70%) rating.