ALPHAKILL — Degrees of Manipulation (review)

ALPHAKILL — Degrees of Manipulation album cover Album · 2018 · Technical Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Nightfly
Whilst I’ve heard no shortage of great death metal in 2018 I can’t really say the same about thrash, though I have to say I focus more on death metal these days, so I may have missed some gems. The latest Artillery album “The Face Of Fear” which certainly impressed me and Revocation’s “The Outer Ones” are my top picks of the year, the latter in particular blowing me away as Revocation always do with their technical death/thrash. Perhaps they don’t count though as they’re as much a death metal band as a thrash one. Another band on the more technical side of things is Canadians Alphakill who despite releasing their debut album “Unmitigated Disaster” in 2012 have passed me by until now. I still haven’t heard that debut but I’m pleased to have caught up with them on their second recently released album “Degrees Of Mainipulation”.

These guys can really play and while they seem to be have been influenced by old school thrash like Forbidden and Exodus the sharp production brings their more technical riffing bang up to date. Brilliant musicianship alone will not however make a great album and thankfully these guys have the songs and riffs to back up their musical chops. Yes “Degrees Of Manipulation” is jam packed with killer riffs and incendiary soloing. I’m also impressed with vocalist Justin Stear’s more traditional and cleaner approach being more in the Charlie Benante or Forbidden’s Russ Anderson vein though nearer the latter doesn’t particularly sound like either. Most of the songs are pretty fast, as you’d expect in this genre, though constant twists and turns keep things interesting with drummer Derrick Kroll tight and dextrous playing anchoring it all down. Guitar and bass duties is shared between vocalist Justin Stear and Jon Warren who can shred with the best of them when required but they never lose sight of the importance of the riffs. I could point to pretty much any song as evidence but Morality Blurred being a favourite of mine is as good an example as any of how good this band is.

As I already said the production is sharp but a minor criticism is that it could benefit from more bottom end but for an independent release they’ve done a great job. Whilst these guys remain largely unknown at the moment “Degrees Of Maipulation” has the musicianship and songs to reach a far wider audience. Definitely a band to keep an eye on and I look forward to album number three.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Negative Music Hardcore Punk
HAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night Progressive Metal
NIGHT VERSES
Buy this album from MMA partners
Witches Burn Alive Stoner Metal
LOVE YOUR WITCH
Buy this album from MMA partners
I Doom Metal
KAPUTTH
Buy this album from MMA partners
Kingdom Of Guilt Metalcore
THE WARRING TRIAD
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

ScapeGoat Official Lyric Video
FIREFLAME
Bosh66· 2 days ago
FireFlame - The Last Ride (Official Video)
FIREFLAME
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Fervence - Hezekiah (Official Music Video)
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Fervence - The Silent Wall
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 2 days ago
Fervence - Corrosion (Visualizer)
FERVENCE
Bosh66· 2 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed