• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

There is no shortage of black/thrash bands out there today, so it's become a field in which a band needs to be very good or have a different sound (or both) in order to stand out from the crowd. Germany's Cruel Force do a little of both on their third album, Dawn of the Axe. For starters, these guys play fast and loud, so they check those boxes from the jump. Their core sound is a mix of early Venom, when they had that wild, punk-fueled abandon, and Slayer, who incorporated a bit of traditional metal melody into their furious thrash attack. You can hear Cruel Force paying homage to these pioneers on "Night of Thunder" (Venom) and "At the Dawn of the Axe" (Slayer). They even have a song called "Power Surge" which shares a title and similar energy with Overkill's "Powersurge" from Taking Over. But Cruel Force aren't satisfied with just channeling the '80s, even though they do that very well, they also add in some atmosphere on songs like "Watchtower of Abra," with its Middle Eastern melodies, and "Realms of Sand" which, at over seven minutes is long for a black/thrash track, but has some good emotional ebb and flow. It reminds me of when Venom and Slayer started branching out with songs like "Manitou" and "Raining Blood" where the feel was as important as the speed. I am impressed with Dawn of the Axe and found myself wanted to hit repeat every time "Realms of Sand" ended. An excellent release from Cruel Force.