We’ve not touched base with Swedes Methane for a while. In fact, the last time they featured here was in over five years ago when they gave the boss a preview of their debut album The Devil’s Own. Described as Southern metal in the style of Pantera, it’s fair to say that it was well received. As we race into 2023, Methane is back, and they’ve upped their game. They still have that Southern groove, but their latest seven-song release Kill It With Fire veers across the line and crashes out the other side with a fully-fledged thrash metal release. And when it’s time to thrash, sometimes it’s instant gratification rather than originality that’s what is most needed.
Formed in 2012 by bassist and singer Tim Scott (Revenant) and guitarist Jimi Masterbo (Hell Patrol), the current line-up is completed by Cryonic Temple guitarist Markus Grundstom and drummer Jonathan Fundin.
It’s heads down thrashing on the title track that opens the album, the thick riffing and gnarly vocals of Scott hitting the right spots and you can see why the band have grabbed touring slots with the likes of Warbringer, Nervosa and Whiplash. It’s fast, aggressive, powerful. Methane isn’t the first band to use the sound clip of the crazy lady from the Walmart store in 2020 but Religious Rita (if you haven’t seen the clips on YouTube, you’ll have no idea what I’m on about) brings her potty mouthed rantings to the start of “Accuser (of the brethren)”. It’s reference to the passage in Revelations but here Methane use it as the basis for their lyrics. It’s hopefully tongue in cheek, for no-one can surely believe the message Rita preaches amid her stream of profanities.
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Elsewhere there’s a Kreator riff on the chorus of “Declare Chaos”, a Bay Area stomp on “Shock and Awe” which although a fast-paced beast is possibly the weakest track here. It’s punchy but brings little and the “bombs away” gang chants don’t do anything for me. The standout track is probably “Blood Red Sky”, which features C.J. Scioscia and Blood Feast, the US extreme legends who first came to prominence in the 1980s. It’s a mosh-pit stomper, with enough groove to get you dancing around the living room and generally tearing shit up.
Methane don’t bring anything new to the table but what they do they do very well. The savagery of Down in the Gutter will appeal to fans of both Pantera and Slayer, with jagged, visceral riffage the order of the day. If you want to spend 30 minutes enjoying some full-on metal, Kill It With Fire comes highly recommended.
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Kill It With Fire is out on January 23rd
Check out all the bands we review in 2023 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
