Vicious Blade – Relentless Force
Release Date: 27th September 2024
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Thrash Metal, Blackened Thrash.
FFO: Sacrilege, Hellripper, Midnight, Destruction, Kreator.
Review By: Rick Farley
Pittsburgh’s steel city thrashers, Vicious Blade are set to release their highly anticipated full length debut album Relentless Force on Redefining Darkness Records, September 27th, 2024.
Vicious Blade is a relentlessly savage five piece blast from the past in the form of high energy blackened thrash metal. Think Destruction/Slayer with a touch of punk and mixed with first wave black metal. That pretty much sums up what you should be expecting for those of you who need a description to go by.
Fronted by Clarissa Bandini from Castrator fame, joined by Jeff Ellsworth, Erik Wynn, Justin Pelissero and Kevin Parent, this bloodthirsty band is exactly what you think they are. Full on thrash metal with a blackened taste for the darkness. Inspired by a plethora of classic metal bands, Vicious Blade are as just at home with blazing their own path of aggressive speed metal as they are being influenced by some of the greats. Definitely not a clone of any one band by any means, Vicious Blade proudly wear their influences on their sleeves while forging their own unique path. Their brand of ass beating thrash metal will have you digging out that dusty old cut-off denim vest with, at minimum, two different Bathory patches.
First and foremost, Relentless Force sounds like a fucking monster. Full of hammering bass, razor sharp guitars and powerful thudding drums. Recorded and mixed by Mario Quintero, with mastering done by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege. Chunky, nasty sounding audio violence clear enough to take your head clean off with one swipe. This record sounds incredible.
Musically, Vicious Blade doesn’t bring anything new or different to the speed/thrash metal table, but they sure as fuck bring the heavy hitting, turbo fuelled ferocity. Killer leads, grisly harsh vocals and burning riffs from hell bring every ounce of frenetic moshing energy to anyone that’s willing to stand near the speakers.
Tracks like Mistress of Death have a bit of riff forward, early Metallica vibe mixed with unyielding speed and heaps more aggression. While Forged Steel stomps like a raging bull until it unleashes a punky fury complete with shouted vocals as well as gut-wrenching growls. Blasphemous Conjuror has a dark melodic guitar harmony right before it explodes into blackened hellfire. Jagged, crunchy guitars, relentless pounding drum pace, continuously and mercilessly beating you down.
Just as the album title suggests, there’s not a lot of room to breathe on Relentless Force. Thankfully, and I don’t say this often, but the rather short runtime of the record plays well into the strengths of Viscous Blade. It quickly gets to the point and doesn’t let up till the end, creating a record that seems meaty and satisfying.
All said and done, Relentless Force is a fucking banger that will scratch a particular itch when you need it to, but probably won’t spend a lot of time in my player. It’s a solid thrash record with little to complain about musically and sonically, but for me, it just doesn’t fully connect all the dots. While it does rip and snarl like a wild beast, it also lacks memorable personality. It’s on the verge of being replayable, but doesn’t quite get there. I do however believe this is something the faithful, hardcore thrash community will probably love. Check this one out.
(3.5 / 5)
