BRADDOCK — Strikes Back (review)

Album · 2011 · Thrash Metal

3/5 · 2013-10-24
Time Signature

Metal up your fucking big ass...

Genre: crossover/thrash/speed

Roaming inthe Spanish underground, Braddock is a three-person thrash metal band who explore the dirtier and more old school side to thrash metal aesthetics. Their debut album ”Strikes Back” was released in 2011 and clocks in at nearly 32 minutes. It features eight tracks, all of which take the listener back to a simpler time.

'Metal Up Your Ass!' is an aggressive blend of speed metal and crossoer thrash, complete with riot vocals and bass-filled breaks. 'Counterattack' is pretty much in the same vein although the speed metal influence is slighty stronger. 'The Bloodening' – a tribute to a fictional horror classic from the The Simpsons universe – leans more towards thrash metal and, while most riffs and passages in this track are pretty much straightforward, the composition itself is considerably complex, and this song is easily the best track of the album. 'Road Rage' is also more in the vein of early thrash and speed metal and features some nice whammy leads and galloping drums, while 'World In Arms/Kill the Police' combines doom-ladden heaviness with misanthropic punk simplicity. 'Kill Bin', which deals with the death of Bin Laden, is another speed metal-oriented affair and among the most primitive tracks on the album, and 'Back From the Grave' is a flurry of speed and crossover riffs and breakdowns and features some mean old school thrash metal guitar leads. The many riffs and passages actually make this track one of the compostionally most complex ones on the album. 'North of Hell' also combines primitive riffage with more complex song structure and promises to take you on a trip to the land north of hell where you can get ”oral sex for free” ( wonder if they're singing about Northen Europe).

The production is considerably dirty, which s fitting for an underground crossover release, but far from unlistenable. The music itself belongs to the more primitive end of the thrash metal gamut, but it is rich in aggressive energy, and the album in its entirety is, for my money, quite enjoyable. The vocals are delivered in a thick Spanish accent, but that should not be a problem, and just like the broken English of many German thrash metal releases, the Spanglish delivery of vocals on this album quickly becomes an integral part of Braddock's sound (I mean 'Back from the Grave' would simply not be the same without the lyric ”Keek you in thee eys”). Moreover, the use of samples from classic movies and over-the-top metal-n-war lyrics indicate a band with their tongues firmly placed in their cheeks, which is always appreciable in a genre as intense as thrash metal.

Fans of primitive crossover metal with plenty of references to old school straightforward thrash metal aesthetics should definitely visit Braddock on Bandcamp and download the album. If nothing else, the album delivers great thrashing tongue-in-cheek fun.