Blackning – Awakening Rage
Release Date: 28th July 2023
Label: Black Lion Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Thrash Metal
FFO: (early) Sepultura
Review By: Death8699
This Brazilian 4 piece has been playing pure thrash metal since 2014, and it seems as though they’re getting better on each succeeding release, pulling in a vibe that’s furious and ferocious. I’m glad that I got to hear this and quickly placed the opinion of those to fine musicians. Hopefully, they’ll have a long life to them and don’t cash-in changing musical genres.
These guys do a great job entertaining your speakers and dominating within the thrash metal arena! Definitely Sepultura influenced from the earlier days with Max and Igor in the band. This album’s components have their music at a pinnacle height in maturity, however, they’re definitely a band that’s still growing musically, showing the progression in the music. The riffs are killer and on cue, each giving you a different side of the band. Some slow, some fast and altogether unrelenting powerful performance, with every song showing maturity as well as originality. The music on here fluctuates, giving plenty of variety, and the vocals are admirable throughout. I didn’t much care for the lead guitars, which lowered my score slightly, but overall this one is a boon to your collection.
I think that the more records they’re able to come out with, the fan base will grow and so will their musical maturity. I really enjoyed all the songs on Awakening Rage, some more than others, but overall, a great collection of tracks on this LP. Catching my attention were the likes of “Greed and Lies” which has a great chorus, “Never To Be Free” with killer riffs and “Vengeance Is Mine” which shows dynamics in precision thrash!
I feel that there’s going to be a multitude more of LP’s in their corner, and they’re looking for press to cover how good their sound is overall, including the great production-quality and mixing of the album. They were able to make use of their talents wholeheartedly. More importantly, their music continues to get better. The guitars are likable and since I’m a former guitarist, I can say comfortably that they have some variability and utmost variety of riffs that hit the spot. Their music is mature and the vocals in turn go well together. That’s so important when a band is able to make that connection. If not, then people are going to lose interest.
(4 / 5)
