BRUTALISM

Florida residents Great Awakening are another American band hoping to fill slot the market of the NWOTM (which is not so new now actually). This release received for review includes both of the bands demos, the latter recorded material on show first (you can tell the difference in the recording), it is only fair you unsuspecting thrash lovers know about this quality release.

The style they play reminds me of current upstarts Bonded By Blood and Gama Bomb, very fast, certainly not the Germanic/South American thrash style. It lays waste to your stereo like many British thrash bands did way back when (but with a lot more class, as often found with American bands); they use a little social commentary, a little subtlety and a whole wealth of young testosterone to get their message across. The older tracks have a different styled vocal (certainly ‘War Mentality’ onwards) but this still does not detract from the almost hedonistic experience of the Great Awakening. The aforementioned track mixes NWOBHM riffs and slower parts, a-kin to ‘Fade to Black’ etc, quality stuff. Drummer Nick certainly puts a lot of effort in for this team, apart from the frantic kick drum work, there are fills and runs all over the place. ‘Hypocrisy’ is rather a special track, time changes and all the works associated with thrash music, a neck wrenching rhythm and blistering solo truly requires a moment of your time. The newer tracks (1 to 3) have more Bay Area feel to them, whilst increasing the speed, especially on ‘XIII’, the quality does not suffer, I also prefer this more raspy vocal style to the sometimes nasal approach on the older tracks; I get a very much Death Angel (listen to ‘All Systems Fail’) sound from these talented chaps.

Loud and fast they certainly are, good enough to keep up with the established new era of thrash? Damn right. Great Awakening are fresh, brash and in your face and a perfect cause for a real old school mosh.