Crawling out of the frozen, Arctic wastes of Göteborg, Sweden (disclaimer: may not actually be frozen or Arctic – I teach computing, not geography) come Sonic Assault – a “progressive crossover thrash metal” band formed in 2010.
Their debut EP, One Inch Monster, is quite generous with the number of tracks, though the opener “The Bite” makes use of a long section of movie soundtrack. I’ll put money on the fact it’s the introductory segment from Peter Jackson’s “Brain Dead” (a.k.a. “Dead Alive“), especially as the words “Dead Alive” seem to form most of the chorus. In fairness, Lawnmower Deth‘s classic Ooh Crikey, It’s… album kicks off with a monologue from National Lampoon’s Animal House.
Anyway, the music… once it gets going it’s quality thrash. There’s a mix of styles in there, so I can hear the “crossover” they’re talking about. As well as the film-influenced material, there’s a couple of quality thrash anthems. Pick of these is “Thrashing Your Life – Part I”. Just pure, non-stop, fast-paced thrash. Lyrically it’s somewhere between Hatebreed and Exodus.
Well worth checking out if you’re into traditional thrash, but happy to have it twisted and tweaked just a little.
