Abraxxas – Bitter Harvest

Abraxxas

Bitter Harvest

by Matt Coe at 05 August 2014, 7:07 PM

Coming from Melbourne, Australia, the quintet ABRAXXAS formed in 2013 and have released their first 4 song demo in the form of “Bitter Harvest”. Inspiration resides in European lands, for their Thrash style has a lot of early Teutonic flavor for those that remember the 1984-1986 period of early SODOM and DESTRUCTION. In other words – do not expect crystal clear production values and tones, as this is very raw, primal, and aggressive in nature.

Idris commands you to ‘bang your head’ during “Drop the Hammer”, and the mid-tempo arrangement follows suit in the sense of offering respectable riffing and rhythms that probably meet approval on the ‘wall of death’ meter. At 6 minutes and change, “Rattenkrieg” is the longest song on offer- opening in a tranquil METALLICA way before the riff build up careens in a militant war manner, Sean and Slick slicing their chord choices through in an early SODOM meets METALLICA fashion.

Overall, ABRAXXAS have the basics of Thrash down, but could use a little help in terms of the drum department as Leigh tends to be a little ‘by the book’ and can get a tad monotonous during some of the slower sections. I’ll err on the side of their youth and hope that these minor deficiencies will work themselves out given more seasoning. This is not a release for those who love the newer American generation of groups – ABRAXXAS certainly throw their head in the ring for championing German Thrash, and the first albums of SODOM, DESTRUCTION, and KREATOR at that.

A band to watch for down the line, “Bitter Harvest” gives people a taste of the Old School Thrash execution – non-compromising, uncommercial and guaranteed to appeal to their friends before anyone else.