Terrible Old Man - demo - CD (2010)

Labels: self released
Review by: Alex Deller

Truth be told I’ve done what I can to avoid the whole thrash revival lark. Even Municipal Waste rolling out their schtick with the Rites and Cut The Shit at the Verge was a bit more than I could bear, and back then there weren’t exactly a myriad fuckers trying their claw-curled hand at it. The fact that one bloke behind Hallowed Butchery lends his skills to this miniature statement of intent was enough to make me curious, though, and over the course of three serrated ditties you can hardly fault their chops or metallic acumen: things are brisk, brutal and crisply played with a nice line in twiddly melodies and ridiculously bombastic soloing, ‘The Untold War’ even throwing in a bit of wanton piano pomp for good measure. Whilst cribbing much from melodic death acts like At The Gates and Heartwork-era Carcass there’s also a healthy dose of diamond-tipped Kreatorisms and pounding modern crunch, making for a racket that’s played with enough skill and assurance to ensure your (over) familiarity with the sound itself doesn’t breed the contempt it otherwise might.