EP REVIEW: Hellish – Poison

In 2018, Chilean Blackened Thrash Metallers HELLISH caught my attention with their second full length album, recently in November, 2019, they released a new EP which I figured I must revisit for a review after showering them with high praise nearly two years ago. The EP is out now via Unspeakable Axe Records and Street Metal Blasphemy.

The first track forcefully rips into upbeat blastbeats and chronically fierce riffs with maniacally howled vocals cutting through this instrumental onslaught. Immediately I remember why I loved the last album so much and continue to play it regularly. Massively intricate and cascading guitar riffs shower a rain of total Metal fury over the pounding drum acrobatics while the vocalist is just going totally crazy. This is exactly what I adore so much about South American Heavy Metal, those guys go totally nuts while keeping the music totally pure and real. This material is no less savage than any of their previous work with a blistering inferno of extremity being blasted forth while some melodic nuance ties it all together. The second track of the two original pieces continues very much in the same vein of a bombastic Black-Thrash assault with demonic vocal snarls over cutting-edge instrumental violence, delivering a totally brilliant morbid Metal massacre of the highest quality. This, to me, is the embodiment of pure Heavy Metal with no puritan attitude to the subgenre, going from Black, Speed, Thrash, Death and even some Doom Metal in a rapid display of sonic warfare. I must also note how tight the guitar solos sound (much like all of the band really), with a tasteful shredding performance that doesn’t over-indulge and lets the songs momentum continue with monolithic strength. Finally the band gives us an excellent cover of German thrashers Protector. This pounding anthem of all things diabolical was an excellent choice which the band not only cover brilliantly but put their own disdainful flare into making the song a revised and revitalised banger of superb proportions. This is a killer EP from the band and hopefully an indication of more sadistic slaughter of the weak to come. -8.5/10