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Quality thrash metal from Italy: I cannot honestly say that I've heard too much of that! Rainspawn are label-mates with another Italian thrash band called Enemynside, and every shortcoming that that band has, Rainspawn excel in precisely that. "No Escape" demonstrates a young band with tremendous potential and one that not only keeps the old school spirit alive, but charges thrash metal forward alongside with those magnificent Americans Imagika; although the latter band still stands superior.

"We don't want to invent anything, we just wanna play thrash metal as our favourite bands have done in the eighties!" That is the claim made by these youngsters and it would be a blatant lie if somebody were to deny that. So right off the start, if you listen to this record, you will get a very strong eighties bay-area vibe, more focused on the Megadeth camp with quite a few Testament and Exodus touches in there.

Like most Italian bands however (particularly in power metal) the bass is too high in the mix. So the production here is not too pleasing as the sharp edge of the riffs gets blunted by the overbearing bass presence; sometimes to the point of enough annoyance to ruin some songs. In addition, the vocals are not much to get excited about. They primarily focus on melodic power vocals with a slight rasp in there. It is nothing to complain about mind you, as it does not ruin anything, but it doesn't add any further quality to the music either. In any case, Rainspawn have triggered the thrash metal radar and are definitely a band that I will be keeping an eye on since thrash metal of this kind is not too common these days. Just listen to tracks such as "The Execution" and tell me that the riffs don't give you the Megadeth vibe from the glory years. And on tracks like "Reign Of Pain", we have nothing but Testament popping in the mind as the principal influencers.

Two massive horns go out to the boys of Rainspawn for this record. Hopefully they can release a better album with a production that puts the guitars on the forefront and not the bass and then this band is set.