Time Signature
Lock 'n' load...
Genre: power-thrash
After years of having been obscured by its silly European brother, it seems that US power metal is making its way into the limelight, and this is something, power-thrash, that the rough but sophisticated cousin of US and Euro power metal is also benefiting from, as more power-thrash releases see the light of day these years.
One such release is Made of Hate's "Pathogen" which is actually massively melodic, yet drawing on the groove and aggression of modern thrash metal. Much of the melody is generated by lead guitars - both in terms of solos and lead guitar harmonies; and there are a lot of those... and they work extremely well. The melody and the heaviness is almost perfectly integrated.
The vocals are on the harsher side, and it works. I do wonder how it would have sounded with melodic vocals, but, as I said, it works. The harsh singing also adds a dimension of roughness, so perhaps Made of Hate have actually gone for the best solution.
Fans of melodic thrash metal and power-thrash should definitely check this melodic metal bomb out.