Abandoned dissapoint with their debut 'Thrash Notes'
I've been hearing a lot of Thrash recently, and the question that constantly pops into my mind is 'Why does this genre get so little focus these days?', although not a massive fan of the style myself, when I see bands such as Sodom and Nevermore pull off the style in both classic and progressive fashions I simply stop to wonder why there isn't a more vocal fan base for the style. Unfortunately, promising yet undelivering newcomers Abandoned show me exactly why this is so with their debut 'Thrash Notes'.
Opening with a solid, if a little under whelming thrashing guitar riff in 'The Oncoming Storm' the album doesn't promise too much, and although it threw in a few pleasant surprises along the way, such as the powerful 'Breed Machine' and 'Demonic', I am glad it didn't promise and disappoint. The song writing, although competent and showing promise of quality, never really left much impression on my mind. No catchy guitar hooks were remembered, I couldn't for my life say how any of the choruses went and in the end it all blurred into one, fairly enjoyable, thrash mix.
The real problem is, regardless of the fact that the band can clearly play and have a passion for the old school thrash they provide, much of the CD washed over me. Few of the tracks are fundamentally different from one another, whilst of course the songs have to sound similar enough to make a comprehensive and complete album, there is little exploration of the different sounds the thrash genre can provide making it a rather so-so affair all around.
The production too doesn't do the band's obvious potential justice, the drums are far too prominent in the mix and the guitars lack the real "oomph" and head banging power that they really should have. It's a crying shame that this has happened, as although the songs are definitely same-y they do hold a power and hypnotic effect within them, which is hidden beneath layers of inappropriate production.
Abandoned clearly have potential, something their sets at such highly regarded Euro-metal festivals like Wacken and Earthshaker attests to, however, 'Thrash Notes' only hints at what the band have to offer. This is an album that dedicated thrash fans should at least give a look into, as it wouldn't be surprising if we see Abandoned moving on to bigger things in the future, but it hardly necessary to the casual listener. We can only hope that 'Thrash Notes' hints at the greater things to come around the corner.