Bands that purport to be 'thrash metal' and/or 'hardcore' are hardly a rarity, but ones with actual talent are. So often we see the image without any quality backing it up. Drummers who can't keep their double-kicks in time, guitarists who only know 'Drop D' tuning, and vocalists more concerned about whether their hair has reached their arse yet. We've seen it all before, but luckily, on the strength of this EP, Arbroath's Soundshok do not belong in that category.
Opener 'Choke Back The Blood' is typical of its genre, beginning with a snippet of dialogue from slasher flick 'Saw II', and launching into a high-octane riff reminiscent of early Sepultura, circa Chaos AD. Vocalist Andy Thain has the perfect voice for this kind of stuff, throaty enough to sound menacing but never sounding forced or faked in any way. This guy obviously only needs one puff to blow out his birthday candles. There is a similarity with Sepultura's former vocalist Max Cavalera, but the vocals are more obscured and incomprehensible. Whether that's deliberate or not it's hard to tell, the Myspace music player tends to scuzz up the cleanest of recordings.
'Genocide' is the best song on offer here, offering an inventiveness and variation that the other tracks lack. But behind Thain is a powerful band, confident sounding with real energy and enthusiasm. The only downside is that apart from 'Genocide', the songs don't offer anything that hasn't gone before, the riffs come thick and fast but they are all familiar, and offer no surprises. The opening track even fades out, which on a track like this just screams "Yeah we didn't know how to end it". 'Isolation is Power' is solid but repetitive, although 'As It Burns' ensures the record doesn't go down in flames. In fact, it is a solid effort overall, made a success by the solid musicianship, and in 'Genocide', definite hints that Soundshok are more than just your average sweaty thrash metallers playing to overweight Venom devotees in the basement of a pub in Blairgowrie. Maybe it's all those smokies, but there's a touch of bite to go with Soundshok's bark. The thrash metal world is a crowded one however, and only those more knowledgeable about the genre than I could tell you where Soundshok sit amongst it. For me though, they get pass marks.
Judge for yourself at
www.myspace.com/soundshok1
Gord, 08.08.06