ALBUM REVIEW: Gama Bomb – Speed Between The Lines

Today brings us a new Gama Bomb record, a hilarious and really great Thrash Metal band who are over the top in all the right ways. The release is on 12th October via AFM Records! Let’s see how this fares up against their fairly small but brilliant discography!

01. Give Me Leather comes in with epic grooves, a superb high scream and some killer drum fills. The thrashing madness begins! With technical riffs and fantastic songwriting the catchy hooks are sure to get stuck in your head from the off. It is great to see Gama Bomb return on such great form. This opening song has it all, groove and melody in buckets and is so damn catchy. The old school vibe of the song is completed by blistering solos that were really well played. An awesome opener with a fantastic Judas Priest vibe to it!
02. A Hanging pushes on with more intense riffing, frenzied attacks from all angles and ridiculously fast vocals. The band have taken a more old school approach to this music compared to their other releases and it works really well. Once again they pack every song with action and everything is completely full of energy whilst being really fun and enjoyable. The solos are absolutely wonderful too. Another killer track that is perfect mosh pit fuel and has a chorus that is going to be stuck in your head for ages!
03. 666teen is immediately recognisable as a Gama Bomb song with its faced pace riffing, upbeat drums and hugely fun vocals which are just as fast as the instrumentation. Utilising some Punk elements in their unique Thrash Metal attack works really well and the whole track is just a prime example of the band growing and not losing touch. The guitar solos are wonderful and everything about the song is just simply appealing to me. This is a killer and welcome return from Gama Bomb, bring on the Mosh fuelling Thrash madness!
04. Bring Out The Monster comes in with furious riffing and beautifully built up drums that really slay. This is some great Thrash Metal that really is very digestible and likeable. The strength and speed of the song may not be as in your face as the last, but still has a certain confidence and intensity to it. A really catchy track, that is evident from the first few lines. This track (along with the music video) are just as ridiculous and funny as ever, the Irishmen really know how to be entertaining and it’s certainly a nice balance with the more extreme releases I review (as a lover of all Metal and its subgenera). Wicked song, while I preferred “666teen” this was still awesome.
05. R.I.P. U opens with some really glam vocals and insane drums before the blistering riffs blast us into more action packed Thrash Metal mania! This is some really well written and precise music that is gorgeously interpretable and should have mass appeal to fans of any Metal genre. They stick true to their formula, which works well for them and gives us a consistent and reliable album that makes sense in their discography, this song being a prime example of that. Absolutely chaotic yet well structured, excellent work on this with even more fantastic leads. The typically thrashy and catchy chorus sections are once again sure to be stuck in your brain. Another banger!
06. Motorgeist comes in with some more punky riffs and upbeat groove. There is a noticeable NWOBHM influence on the songwriting but which is played in their trademarked Thrash Metal brand which sounds absolutely epic and is really fun. This track is your perfect high-octane Thrash Metal fury for anyone who loves their Metal fast and epic. The production is really excellently done with each note being clearly captured! Wicked!
07. Alt-Reich cascades Metal fury upon us beautifully with some real kick to it. The riffs have an awesome bite to them that is punctuated gorgeously by the drums and lay a perfect foundation to the fantastic and over the top vocals. This song much like the previous has a lot of really great punky groove to certain sections that are really fun while also pack a hell of a punch. The songwriting and riffs especially on this one were really spectacular!
08. Stay Rotten blasts more Thrash, continuing nicely from the other tracks. The album has a reliable flow to it, not pushing the boat out too far but sticking to what they know and do so well. Lyrically this is really entertaining and I like the higher vocal use too. The guitar solo was really catchy and sounded somehow familiar to me too. The song has a more laid back (at least comparatively) feel to it than most of the others but is still pretty flourishing and obnoxious, but in the best possible way.
09. We R Going 2 Eat U has a much more old school vibe to it, I love the intro riffs which remind me of the band Satan (who recently released a killer album on a side note). This song creeps and crawls through tons more epic verses and catchy choruses and feels very different to the others, adding some well needed diversity to the album (not that anything was wrong with it but changing things up is always good). This song stood out but in a really cool way and I think gave the album some really good breathing space, stopping it from being overly similar, while still keeping true to their sound and holding the momentum. Brilliant song!
10. Kurt Russell punches in with some amazing drum work and fantastic riffs, this song already feels like it is going to be my favourite (along with “666teen”) due to the superb riffs, mad drums and overall amazing instrumentals that are topped with some really bombastically powerful vocal, soaring beautifully on the song. This track is just perfect for a live atmosphere with huge mosh pits and plenty of head banging to be done. I loved the bass and drum sections that stood alone with complete strength! The rhythm guitar and bass also had a really lusciously warm and delightful tone. An intensely enjoyable, groovy and kick-ass piece of music right here, definitely one of the best tracks of the release for me and it has made me really want to see Gama Bomb live again!
11. World Gone To Hell brings us into more frenzied madness that is just so in your face and really entertaining, the kick and punch of this track soon decimates any doubts a new listener may have with its epic thrashing grooves that are so huge. They did a wonderful job on this song and some of the most melodic and gorgeous Gama Bomb music I have heard with a stunning guitar solo too. Really cool lyrics on this one especially as well. Fantastic!
12. Faceblaster is the final track of the album, which seemed to only have started a couple of minutes ago, I guess due to the incredibly fast pace. The guitars, bass and drums all seem like they’re withholding something and excited to be unleashed, this is definitely the case when blistering music soon follows. The song is one last epic chance at throwing us some insanely epic Thrash Metal and does so beautifully. A wicked closing track that is so catchy and brilliantly written. Excellent!

Gama Bomb are back, with an incredibly powerful and fun record. This should be on every Thrashers must listen list! Once more they are musically brilliant and utterly comical. Great stuff, just as ludicrously fabulous as ever! -8/10