Reapter – Blasted

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Sharing the stage over the years with bands like TESTAMENT and Ukraine's JINJER, (who recently had to take a break from touring to focus on their families), REAPTER, from Rome, are still giving the world real European thrash metal with some Italian spice thrown in the mosh pit. Giuseppe Orlando recorded the bands third album,  “BLASTED”, for the five members at Outer Sound Studios. Tue Madison took care of the sound work for them at Apple Farm Studios, bringing it all together nicely. Buil2kill Records/Audio Globe, was there to make the magic happen as the label. All of this brings us an album that is completely different than their previous two with new sounds and styles in favor of death metal instead of the progressive elements of the the previous works. This time, the lyrics are a reflection on real life experience as they try to bring a positive message to the listener while they sing about the recent struggles in their life.

Reaper and Richter make REAPTER, ground pounding, seismic death metal!  Formed in 2005, the band is bringing it with this one and I'm digging it. They have grown into a band with a big sound and it shows here. We start out with, maybe not intentional but, to me, Nordic feeling, “No Backward Step”, it is a great song to start the album which also ends with your classic solo to set the tone for where we are going on this journey. Number two, “Cold War”, steps right up in pocket with drums welcoming you, along with a few seconds of a Randy Rhoads guitar sound unexpectedly sneaking in the back door. “Riot”, has a nice groove and a little bit of a different feel, nicely mixing it up in the middle. The variety makes me want to hear what is up next. What is up next, I found out, is their premier lyric video for this album and what you hear is pure thrash. “10 Days”, is about a friend of the band that was not doing good in the hospital, but luckily recovers. I think we can all sadly relate to this one.

Mixing it up, the album switches to a deeper darker growl in tone with the Pergolini bass and Niro’s drums taking us through to “Timeless” finally landing on “The Wall Of Death” and the dueling solos of  Pellicciotta and Bulzoni, a great way to go out.  Claudio Arduini seems to have an intense stage presence from what I can tell without being able to see him first hand from here in the United States. “BLASTED” sounds really big with the help of his big voice and he wraps it around his four brothers well, forming one of the best thrash metal bands in Italy.

Songwriting: 9
Musicianship: 9
Memorability: 9
Production: 9