Kemakil - Kemakil
Kemakil are one of the few, if not the only unsigned UK thrash band around nowadays who were actually doing the rounds back in the eighties. They initially formed in 1988 before disbanding two years later, then reformed again in 2008 and have been doing the rounds ever since while releasing a plethora of demos and EPs along the way. Hell, I've played a fair few shows with them myself and always thought that 2011's Blood Removal Machines EP in particular was an excellent slice of thrash, so naturally the news of their full length got me excited.
So we've got a bunch of brand new tracks here, but also a few older ones - one from 2008's Gondolas on the Styx demo and three from 2010's Tales from the Container of Doom EP, all re-recorded and a lot more refined musically then in their original incarnations. Kemakil are definitely in the same camp as Southampton's Desolator in that they're so unbelievably thrash that it walks the tightrope of banality, yet the lack of anything particularly new or boundary-shattering actually does more to complement them than it does to harm them... I think that since Kemakil did this whole shindig back in the late eighties, frontman Rob Durrant seems to have the right idea on how to appraoch straight-up no-thrills thrash metal. The album definitely has a lot in common with the so-called Teutonic Three (that's Destruction, Sodom and Kreator) from the heaviness right down to Rob's vocal performance, sounding like the bastard lovechild of Tom Angelripper and Mille Petrozza, and it's another refreshing change from all of the bay area worship that's so painfully common nowadays. Yeah, it's still nothing new but who cares? Tracks like 'Illuminati' and 'Iram of the 'Ad' are breakneck headbangers of the highest caliber and the album never lets up - it's well-paced, cleverly written and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, though perhaps maybe not quite as memorable in places as you'd hope. As great as it is, the album does seem to lack some hooks here and there which will very rarely cause you to get a bit lost which doesn't do much to detract from the overall experience, but it's a minor flaw that should be mentioned nonetheless. For the most part this is yet another album that's difficut/boring to write about due to it's high level of quality, though not without some small issues.
Simply put Kemakil's self-titled album is pretty fucking good. It's not perfect, it's nothing new and it's not without it's problems (albeit very few and very minor ones) but it's definitely worth checking out if you like thrash metal. Out of all the bands in Britain's unsigned scene right now, Kemakil come out near the top and this is a good indication as to why. Pick it up, you can't go wrong!
So we've got a bunch of brand new tracks here, but also a few older ones - one from 2008's Gondolas on the Styx demo and three from 2010's Tales from the Container of Doom EP, all re-recorded and a lot more refined musically then in their original incarnations. Kemakil are definitely in the same camp as Southampton's Desolator in that they're so unbelievably thrash that it walks the tightrope of banality, yet the lack of anything particularly new or boundary-shattering actually does more to complement them than it does to harm them... I think that since Kemakil did this whole shindig back in the late eighties, frontman Rob Durrant seems to have the right idea on how to appraoch straight-up no-thrills thrash metal. The album definitely has a lot in common with the so-called Teutonic Three (that's Destruction, Sodom and Kreator) from the heaviness right down to Rob's vocal performance, sounding like the bastard lovechild of Tom Angelripper and Mille Petrozza, and it's another refreshing change from all of the bay area worship that's so painfully common nowadays. Yeah, it's still nothing new but who cares? Tracks like 'Illuminati' and 'Iram of the 'Ad' are breakneck headbangers of the highest caliber and the album never lets up - it's well-paced, cleverly written and thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, though perhaps maybe not quite as memorable in places as you'd hope. As great as it is, the album does seem to lack some hooks here and there which will very rarely cause you to get a bit lost which doesn't do much to detract from the overall experience, but it's a minor flaw that should be mentioned nonetheless. For the most part this is yet another album that's difficut/boring to write about due to it's high level of quality, though not without some small issues.
Simply put Kemakil's self-titled album is pretty fucking good. It's not perfect, it's nothing new and it's not without it's problems (albeit very few and very minor ones) but it's definitely worth checking out if you like thrash metal. Out of all the bands in Britain's unsigned scene right now, Kemakil come out near the top and this is a good indication as to why. Pick it up, you can't go wrong!
1. The Cause Of All War
2. Iram Of The 'Ad
3. Hell Patrol
4. Free To Obey
5. Chemical Attack
6. Illuminati
7. The Vile, The Bad & The Ugly
8. Nightmare Existence
9. Nuclear Proliferation
10. Persecution Of The Hmong
2. Iram Of The 'Ad
3. Hell Patrol
4. Free To Obey
5. Chemical Attack
6. Illuminati
7. The Vile, The Bad & The Ugly
8. Nightmare Existence
9. Nuclear Proliferation
10. Persecution Of The Hmong
Self released
Reviewer: Dave Ingram Jr.
Sep 10, 2013
Sep 10, 2013
Next review:
Septekh - Apollonian Eyes
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