Terrathorn -
Since forming in Southampton in 2005 Terrathorn have racked up opening slots for bands such as Soulfly, 3 Inches of Blood and Municipal Waste and more recently been added to play the unsigned stage at next years Bloodstock Festival. Heavily referencing the template carved out by old-school thrash Granddaddies Metallica and Megadeth and infusing it with more contemporary influences, Terrathorn aren’t exactly setting the world ablaze with their recently released eight track debut “Acquire. Dominate. Destroy” or rewriting thrash’s how to manual, but then again, it’s not a manual crying out to be tampered with.
Bands such as Terrathorn need to be considered within the wider thrash context and with an awareness of its pre-established conventions as neglecting to do so could lead one to instantly dismiss them as merely regurgitating a homogenised, generic thrash sound that has pretty much been done to death.
The hybridized bastard child of NWOBHM, Punk and Hardcore, fusing the catchy as hell riffage of the first with the latter two’s speed and D.I.Y. ethics, thrash was metal’s first extreme offshoot, and with the big four still alive and kicking - Slayer and Megadeth in particular proving with their most recent albums why they’re still very much relevant - and many other big name bands such as Machine Head and Killswitch Engage taking a leaf or seven out of the thrash handbook, it can be difficult for newer bands breaking into the scene to be considered exceptional and original while still operating within thrash’s relatively restrictive framework.
There are quite a few moments on “Acquire. Dominate. Destroy” where Terrathorn display not only an acute understanding of the effectiveness of thrash’s simpler and more direct approach when compared with its more technical progeny ��" death and black metal the most obvious examples ��" but also how this increases its reliance on tight grooves and catchy riffs to get heads banging, and for a debut album these guys have achieved that more than adequately. That being said, a bit more seriously shredding lead guitar work on a few of the mostly mid-tempo tracks wouldn’t have gone astray, but that and the fact the vocals sound like they’d be better suited fronting some hardcore band aside, you could do much worse to lose your shit to than Terrathorn, and with a few upcoming dates around London and the Southeast you’ll soon get your chance to do just that.