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Italy seems to be one of the most productive European countries when it comes to producing new Thrash Metal bands these days. Without starting any senseless name-dropping, let’s just welcome Agitator, a young and relentless Thrash Metal combo from Milan, Italy.

Agitator was formed in 2013 and has already released a debut studio album, Mental Violence. The cover is cheesy as hell (a naked, bald guy getting nails hammered through his skull – could it possibly get any cheesier, yi-haa!) but the Italians’ vicious and aggressive Thrash Metal makes up for it, partly at least.

Agitator’s straightforward, mostly fast paced music is a teeny-weeny bit Bay Area-tinged but a bit more influenced by Sacrifice (Canada). Their wonderfully raging Thrash Metal belongs to the "heard-this-a-zillion-times-before" category but offers those familiar meat and potatoes sounds in a yummy way, I must say. Andrea Lobbia’s vocals are as effective as Sacrifice’s Rob Urbinati in a raw, pissed-off way. Otherwise Mental Violence’s magnetism stems from pure old school Thrash Metal so much that it’s hard to ignore. If you love Thrash, you’ll at least like these Italian thrashers’ debut.