Anoxia - Lapdance For The Devil

Anoxia, another one of Denmark's thrash metallers, have been taking their sweet time for the past seven years since their debut CD to create Lapdance For The Devil. It's interesting because at first listen, fans may wonder: What happened to the thrash in these guys? With melodic vocals and music with almost a pop edge to it, Anoxia seems to pale in the thrash genre compared to bands like Dew Scented, Exodus, and Bewitched. Everything here sounds more like melodic or power metal; something one would hear from a band like Symphony X, just a lot more raw. However, even though the thrash meter may be askew, there's still plenty to be happy about this album.

Opening with "A Cold Violence," the song title sounds evil enough, but the moment the singing comes in along with the patterned riffs, the song ends up to be just a cute furball with a few fancy licks. Is it bad? No. Is it thrash? Not really. However, the music gets a little heavier with the title track; some may recognize the riffs similar to something Metallica have put out. The clean singing without any sort of rasp or roar to it still softens the tune, but the song makes anyone headbang, especially to the ferocious solos. "Flowers On My Grave" and "Hell Bent For Heaven" are about the only other tracks on the album that are strongly reminiscient of anything hard or thrash like; the rest is pretty much melodic metal. But, within these melodic metal tunes there's bits and pieces that any metal fan can enjoy. "Beyond The Line" has some great chugging riffs and "Tale of..." has some very audible bass work in conjunction with the tapping drums. "The Expected" involves a few unexpected twists as it is certainly more rock oriented than the other tracks, yet still melodic. The drums have a hollow crash to them which add depth to the music as well, but ultimately it's still basically melodic metal.

For those who may be more used to the thrash orients of bands like Slayer, Megadeth, or Exodus, they may be disappointed in Anoxia. It certainly isn't the speed metal with a harsh edge that they may have expected. However, fans of regular heavy metal or power/ melodic metal will find this much more suitable for their earhole. One could even consider this 'old school thrash' in the vein of Judas Priest for its combination with Anoxia's aggressive riffing and melodic solos on top of the cleanly sung vocals. If it's hard enough, it's still metal enough.

  1. Cold Violence
  2. Lapdance For The Devil
  3. Risky On The Rocks
  4. Lonely Ride
  5. Beyond The Line
  6. The Tale Of Jimi And Janis
  7. Flowers On My Grave
  8. My Prison
  9. The Expected
  10. Hell Bent For Heaven

Mighty Music Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Apr 27, 2010
Next review: Sleep - Dopesmoker

Share this: