Who likes thrash metal? Go on, raise your hand. It’s ok. I like it, too. It’s not just for old guys who can remember when Metallica had just released their first album. I promise.
The Wisconsin four-piece Lazarus A.D. gives us a nice thrash record for the new year. The follow-up to 2009's The Onslaught, “Black Rivers Flow” is long overdue, in my opinion. I loved their debut, and was hungry for more right off the bat. Now, they’ve finally released their sophomore Metal Blade Records album, and it was absolutely worth the wait.
“American Dreams” starts us off with a nice fade in to a speedy little guitar riff before the full force kicks you in the chest as the rest of the band joins in. Jeff Paulick’s vocals have greatly improved from the half growled, half spoken style he sported on The Onslaught. Another welcome improvement is the meshing of growls and clean vocals to give them a little edge of melody. Track two, “The Ultimate Sacrifice”, is one of the album’s standouts. A chugging intro that sports a plethora of palm muted guitars and pounding drums with a wicked little solo leads into the verse. The chorus makes full use of the clean vocals of lead guitarist Dan Gaipen’s gritty style. Picking up the pace, “The Strong Prevail” adds elements of speed metal to the ever present thrashiness.
The title track, “Black Rivers Flow”, slows things down with a clean guitar intro that switches gears to distorted about halfway through it. As the verse starts to come in, the guitars gain steam with a faster, heavier riff that’s backed up with the brutality of Ryan Shutler’s drumming. “Black Rivers Flow” is another standout song on this album, combining everything Lazarus A.D. seems to do best. “Casting Forward”, “Light A City (Up In Smoke)”, and “Through Your Eyes” keep the thrash coming before we reach the epic “Beneath The Waves Of Hatred”. A devilishly technical lead intro builds momentum for the crushing weight of the verse and chorus to hammer home. This is the best song on the album. This is Lazarus A.D. at its finest. Superb guitar work, heavy vocals combining grit and melody, and driving drums will have you out of your seat within the first minute.
They close this album up with “Eternal Vengeance”, which is the mandatory and absolutely necessary thrash ballad. Clean guitars and vocals give us a lead into things before the distortion kicks back in as Paulick screams “waiting for the day I die!” As you may have guessed, the ballad is over and the heavy is back. They interlude with one last face melting solo before finishing things up with a final rendition chorus that slowly fades out.
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