Engine Driven Cultivators

Helly Gator

Written by: PP on 28/12/2010 16:47:54

I've been waiting for an album like "Helly Gator" in thrash metal for a long while. In a time when most bands seem to be concentrating on revitalizing the 80s Bay Area thrash in one form or another, delivering visceral thrash assaults with harshly yelled vocals inspired by Slayer & co, few bands are attempting what Engine Driven Cultivators do here on their sophomore full length. They are bringing back the tongue-in-cheek, less-serious sounding crossover thrash when the genre was all about playing fast, playing hard, and having fun in the process.

Municipal Waste (et al) were one of the forerunners in resurrecting the beer-n-thrash-n-roll style a few years ago. They are certainly one of the most audible influences on "Helly Gator", but we all know what happened next, and so the trend died almost as quickly as it appeared. Engine Driven Cultivators couldn't care less, however, and rightly so. Their brand of melodic, fun-oriented crossover thrash is as fresh and rejuvenating as Municipal Waste's was five years ago, although the songs quality-wise are maybe one, perhaps two tiers below. But that doesn't matter, thanks to their excellent vocalist who flirts with clean vocals just enough to make his delivery sound interesting, lifting the somewhat predictable crossover lifts to a new dimension when combined together. The result is an uplifting mood (in thrash metal, nonetheless!) and a sound which is just that much more interesting than all the identikit Slayer/Testament etc clones we are treated to nowadays. There are nine tracks here in total of varying quality, but the overall feeling is very positive: this is how I want my thrash metal to sound like in 2010. Fun, no-frills, and with obvious tribute to the heavyweights in the genre. Good stuff.

7

Download: Eyewash Squad
For the fans of: Municipal Waste, Nuclear Assault
Listen: Myspace

Release date 2009
Self-Released

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.