ALBUM REVIEW: Blood Feast – Chopped, Sliced And Diced

Here I review the new Blood Feast mini album which is out December 21st on Hells Headbangers Records! Time for some Thrash Metal!

1. Concubine kicks us off with nicely built in guitars that descent into blistering riffs. Accompanies by upbeat speedy drums and filled with energy as the piece grows it starts off very promising. The awesome shrieked vocals add a maniacal forcefulness to the piece that is absolutely killer and I think the band do a great job of selling what they’re about almost immediately. This is some totally frenzied and aggressive Thrash Metal madness full of strength and chaos in equal measures. Amazing opening track!
2. Hunted, Stalked And Slain rips into more furiously driven madness. The grisly riffs, built in drums and hugely in your face attack of the song has this epic and violent feel to it, reminiscent of early 80s Thrash Metal classics, especially the German bands. The drum work is fantastic and works beautifully with the guitars while the demonic vocals gloriously top everything off. True ferocity in its raw, unaltered form. The bleaker sections of the track add depth the accentuates the more intense parts while adding a more atmospheric element too. The guitar solo was a face-melting attack of the strings in true Thrash form. Excellent!
3. Darkside grinds out more menacing Metal madness with full speed and monstrously heavy riffs hitting from every angle. The songwriting is wonderful and the drums really drive this home for me, totally killer from the onset. The catchiness of the song is rivalled only by its churning and ferocious bite that really takes no prisoners. This is totally pure, real Thrash Metal without any bells and whistles, just the fury of some talented musicians scorning the listener with fantastic music. I loved the tapped solo too, so damn classic! For me this song was by far the best, but do not let that make you think for a minute the others are lacking quality.
4. Chopping Block Blues blasts us with more chaotically immense music. Totally blistering instrumentals building on the already monolithic pace of the album and creating something totally killer with the classic feeling of the original bands. This song is much like the others in that respect but this piece also seems to have somehow heightened hatred within it, for that I found that this is a totally appropriate mosh pit piece! If you need it fast and loud, this should be on the list of headbanging anthems! This track has an epic break in it and just comes together as a perfect masterpiece of the genre, which clearly has not lost touch.
5. Chemically Imbalanced (Bonus Track) belts in with more melodic drums, groovy riffs and a crawling pace that you know for sure is building to something epic. Alas the musical prowess of Blood Feast drops us into frenzied thrashing madness with total speed, blasting drums, grinding guitars and a wicked vibe to it all. This song has an early Kreator / Sodom vibe to it that I really enjoyed, a lot of that is borrowed from the insanely high speed instrumentals and harsher vocals that all work together gorgeously. The solos were blistering and the final ingredient this song needed. Totally gnarly track, loved this bonus track and I, for one, am glad it made the release.
6. By The Slice (Live Bonus Track) is the closing piece, I always find it interesting to hear live recordings of bands, it is nice to know they can deliver the goods without a full recording studio. The recording is really tight for a live one, coming in (after some crowd noise) with blasting drums, groovy guitars and a really raw energy that is so appealing to my ear. I think including a live piece that showcases their ability to play their own songs incredibly well was a great decision and gives further insight into the band as artists who do play live as well as record in studio. A killer way to finish the release, great work!

This is some killer Thrash Metal with a early 80s, German scene feel to it. Truly aggressive, chaotic yet filled with precise tension and killer musicianship. Brilliant album that gets in, rips you apart and finishes without filler. -7.5/10