VIOLATOR - BRAZIL

VIOLATOR - UNHOLY RETRIBUTION - KILL AGAIN  
Motto: Why go fast when you can go faster? and this band is not about to violate its own motto. That speed is matched by heaviness, rage, good sound and a topical and socially conscious lyricism that is rare these days. Think you are strong enough to survive the band's aural storm? Then read on.
Violator takes the sounds of its thrash metal forefathers, gives them its own varnish, adds words that matter and impresses from start to finish with nary a moment of imperfection. Think early Kreator, Haunting The Chapel's vocals, early Nuclear Assault, Razor, Vio-lence, a few leads reminiscent of Forbidden, all with an updated sound ready to treat your ears by punching you in the jaw. Wimps and poseurs will be left pouting, bleeding and dehydrated, if not dead.
The track Hang The Merchants Of Illusion combines a touch of Slayer with Kreator. The hyperspeeding Cult Of Death's solo is akin to Forbidden, the bells like Seven Churches (which were first heard on Hang The Merchants Of Illusion), the time change ripping and the track bleeds into Persecution Personality, which itself features a delicious guitar lick, pounding drums and rolls topped with a warm sound, distorted bass and early Slayer-esque true thrash metal. Destroy The Altar infuses blasphemy into the guitar-oriented music. Here is more of the inventive and indefatiguable drumming. The Evil Order continues the blasphemy with a doom-chug before making a U-Turn into the Back In Business Lane for heads-down thrashing. There are echoes on the vocals. As it turns out, The Evil Order is one of the more complex songs. Yet, it reverts to the doom riff at the end. On Chapel Of The Sick the drums "they emulate cruel Zionist bombardments" It is metal ecstasy if genocide and crimes against humanity were not such sad topics. The track goes faster than one imagines. It is an unsettling listen when the bombardment effect kicks in. After all, the sound is evoking crimes we humans commit against each other. The guitarists' right hands are always moving. Vengeance Storm sounds like it could be an instrumental, but it is not. That solo is again fab and reminiscent of vintage Forbidden. Is the sound at the end Palestinians bombing back?
Want an aural massacre in 2025 that has something to say as well? Here is something that "inside you feel the rage" complete with a great bass sound, a warm drum sound, full lead guitars, and not just snippets, as part of a chugging album that is unrelenting and irresistible. There is an urgency to Violator and Unholy Retribution that cannot be faked and thus not likely to be replicated. - Ali "The Metallian"