ARTILLERY
“X”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9.5/10

Artillery are a thrash metal band from Denmark forming in 1982, releasing a number of demos before the bands debut album ‘Fear Of Tomorrow’ emerged in 1985, followed by ‘Terror Squad’ in 1987. The bands third album, 1990’s ‘By Inheritance’ preceded the bands first break-up. Returning in 1998, the band released ‘B.A.C.K.’ (1999), before breaking up for a second time. The band returned in 2007, releasing five more albums over the next ten years – ‘When Death Comes’ (2009), ‘My Blood’ (2011), ‘Legions’ (2013), ‘Penalty By Perception’ (2016), and ‘The Face Of Fear’ (2018) – and in 2021, almost four decades after the band formed, Artillery released their tenth album, simply titled ‘X’.

Artillery were one of the earliest thrash metal bands, alongside such greats as Overkill, Flotsam And Jetsam, Kreator and Destruction, and have performed at some of the worlds most famous metal festivals such as Dynamo, Roskilde and Wacken Open Air. Despite their stop/start career, Artillery remain a force to be reckoned with in the worldwide thrash metal scene, and are once again gonna make their presence felt with their tenth studio offering – especially with a new thrash metal anthem…more about that in a moment.. Because right now, the album storms in to life with the thunderous ‘The Devils Symphony’. Flying at high speed, Artillery launch their tenth studio effort in raucous fashion, with ‘The Devils Symphony’ portraying a “let’s do the time warp again” feel across the chorus break. Now I realise I may be talking to a much younger generation than me, and probably should explain the “let’s do the time warp again” feel. It’s a line from the classic and highly iconic song ‘Time Warp’, which made it’s first appearance in the 1973 rock musical ‘The Rocky Horror Show’, also featuring in the 1975 film adaptation ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’.

Right – with that out of the way, let’s get on with the review, and the thrash metal anthem ‘In Thrash We Trust’. Fast and furious, ‘In Thrash We Trust’ is a fiery romp of all out thrash to get the adrenalin pumping. Mosh pits are gonna go wild for this one, with fans everywhere screaming “in thrash we trust”. Hell yeah! Even after almost four decades, Artillery show no sign of old age, slowing down, or even retiring, keeping the pace high with the more, ahem, melodic ‘Turn Up The Rage’. Straddling the border between thrash and traditional heavy metal, ‘Turn Up The Rage’ is highly accessible to a wide range of metal fans. With a much lower, heavier, and darker intro, ‘Silver Cross’ shows a clean pair of heels when it fires up proper, delivering an old school flavour as it hurtles on by. Artillery are hitting hard with this album, veering off towards the more mid tempo and aggressive style of thrash with ‘In Your Mind’ – you know the kind of thrash! Just think Megadeth.

And whoa! What’s this? Mellowness! Artillery enter, dare I say it, ballad territory with ‘The Ghost Of Me’… The kind of territory Metallica took thrash metal with their self titled “black” album of 1991. Artillery though, have pulled off a major surprise here, the chorus a gloriously infectious sing a long, with just enough heaviness to airlift us out of ballad territory and soar the heady heights of heavy metal. Well done Artillery, well done. And after that surprise, Artillery head straight back to their roots with the blistering ‘Force Of Indifference’. The fastest song heard so far, ‘Force Of Indifference’ is more old school thrash to please the older fans out there, but also to hook many new and younger fans too. Hitting the mid tempo trail once more, ‘Varg I Veum’ is a mighty foot stomp of heaviness. Although there is a mid song flourish of pace and power, the song returns to the heavy hitting foot stomp as it plays out.

Electrifying pace makes its presence felt with the speedster ‘Mors Ontologica’. An out and out thrash metal assault ‘Mors Ontologica’ will quickly work the mosh pits into a rabid frenzy. The rapid fire rhythm and searing guitars will do definite damage to the airways, slapping and slaying anything and anyone in its path. With ‘X’, Artillery mix up the differing styles of thrash, with listeners never sure which way the album will turn. ‘Eternal Night’ takes a turn toward what can only be described as “progressive” thrash. There are so many styles influencing the sound of ‘Eternal Night’ it’s difficult to say for absolute certainty which genre it belongs in – but whichever genre you decide upon, it’s great to see, I mean hear, a band willing to experiment with their sound, pushing themselves in new directions. And to the final song ‘Beggars In Black Suits’, a fast and furious romp to remind us all that, at heart, Artillery are first and foremost, a thrash metal band. And a bloody good one at that.

Overall, a fast, furious, and flexible thrash metal assault, Artillery flexing their sound in varying directions to produce a varied array of thrash.

TRACKLIST

The Devils Symphony
In Thrash We Trust
Turn Up The Rage
Silver Cross
In Your Mind
The Ghost Of Me
Force Of Indifference
Varg I Veum
Mors Ontologica
Eternal Night
Beggars In Black Suites

http://www.artillery.dk/
https://www.facebook.com/ARTILLERY.DK/

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