Review by Fernando on June 20, 2019.

Xalpen is the new endeavor by Alvaro Lillo of Watain fame, and his debut EP shows that he and his band member J.P. Nunez have managed to fully mix the sound and style of raw Norwegian black metal with the culture and ancestry of Chile.

This EP is indeed a tribute to classic black metal, all the main elements are here; the blast beats, the shrieking vocals, the tremolo picking, you name it. But while there’s a respectable reverence to the genre Lillo and Nunez do manage to inject a dose of their own Chilean metal roots to make this EP a unique experience. The album has a lot of thrash and classic Chilean death metal DNA in the music, the vocals are shared by the two members in order to create a demonic and overwhelming atmosphere, Lillo’s shrieks are complemented by the echoing gutturals of Nunez in a way that will be pleasing for metal fans versed in the extreme side of metal and in a unique twist, the band also incorporate some choral effects to emphasize that demonic ritual vibe and the results are excellent, creating a completely demonic and menacing sound.

The music is equally punishing as the vocals and lyrics, there’s a strong emphasis on raw and frenetic speed, but without sacrificing melody and structure, the riffs are thick and forceful, they are complemented by Lillo’s outstanding bass work, not surprising that he would make sure the bass is as present as the guitars, all the songs (sans the piano-centric outro) have this explosive quality where all the instruments work in perfect unison to create that overpowering wall of sound that can only be achieved in black metal.

All in all this is an excellent show of Alvaro Lillo’s musical chops outside of Watain and his death metal projects. There’s a rich understanding of the genre and with enough variation in the thematic side to make it unique, however this EP does have a significant flaw and that is that the music is somewhat repetitive in certain places. While its widely accepted that black metal is simplistic from a musical perspective and that certainly has its advantages; you can do a lot with a simple blueprint it can get tiresome. The songs follow a very rigid formula of riffing, chorus and the occasional solo or bridge section, the music here is indeed good but on repeated listens you really notice how repetitive the music is. In trying to stay true to the spirit and let’s say aesthetic of black metal, Lillo and Nunez also inherited the genre’s shortcomings, which is the aforementioned formula of black metal albeit filtered through Chilean lyrical perspective. But it isn’t all doom and gloom, the music actually benefits from being an EP and not a full album, as a short package it delivers a brutal and chaotic experience with brevity. The flaw of it being formulaic and repetitive only becomes apparent on repeated listening, so my best recommendation of Xalpen’s debut EP is to listen in in small doses or as a pick me up of sorts.

Best tracks: "Devourer of Light", "Spirits of Darkness", "Psycholobe"

Rating: 8.5 out of 10             

Review by Chris Pratl on October 21, 2019.

Admittedly, I gave up on looking for anything new or exciting in thrash metal. For me, it's a one-dimensional trek into galloping riffs and staunchly familiar, albeit engaging tones and structures. What once worked well in 1986 doesn't necessarily bode well for the modern day when it's all been done to death. I suppose my elder fangs are showing.

That said, Fanthrash, making its way from Poland, manages to at least create an interesting sound that, while familiar, manages to step outside the same-old and provide a pretty powerful trudging through the mire that is this re-thrash-hash. Further admittedly, I wasn't a big fan of the band name when I was first offered the album to review; I immediately conjured up a visual of some guys hanging out in a local metal watering hole and drunkenly proclaiming their notion to be the next saviors of metal music, come hell or high water and focusing on the first name that popped up. While I'm still not sold on the moniker, I have managed to take these guys a bit more seriously within the confines of the album, Kill the Phoenix.

I'll simply say that in the midst of this purported revival of thrash metal, there are very few bands worth mentioning. At all. Sure, you can throw names out into the large air and claim them to be viable implements for said genre, and you may very well be right, but as a guy who hastens to admit he's old enough to have seen the birth, triumph and eventual decline of thrash metal I guess I'm a bit tougher sell. I'll definitely say that Fanthrash has managed to shake the tree a bit and find some interesting time changes, vocal patterns and tempo structures that, while not totally new, are quite interesting lumped under the thrashing aspect of the album. Vocally the band comes across as more Vader than Slayer or Whiplash at times, which is a plus for the most part; I tend to prefer the deeper, more throaty bellowing than the familiar screeching or basic clean-tone wailing that is almost always out of time or Anthrax-boring. I will not use the term “nu-thrash” since I utterly despise those “nu” terms with all of my being, but I will say this “revival” of thrash is not so bad when hearing something like Kill the Phoenix.

I particularly like how the thrash herein is not so steeped in antiquity that it just sounds dated and thin; I'm not so sure if it's a generous mesh of production (something thrash was criminally devoid of for most of the 1980's unless you had Fleming Rassmussen on board) and style or just trying to reinvent some wheel along the way, but whatever the case may be Fanthrash has assembled a swift collective of tracks that momentarily defy convention and highlight metal as it should always be: without borders or limits. Sadly, this is never the case these days, as people feel the need to create genres on the spot and assign small corners of the world all to themselves. I don't get and I refuse to ever get it, but I digress. This defying of some convention is evident in select spots on the album, namely in the intro piece “Herald of the End,” which has some seemingly out-of-sync jazzy portions nicely throwing off the feel. If you dig some brief mental detours in your music, ingest away – dare I say it's fun?

All in all, it's a really solid effort by these Polska ragers; I actually could find myself listening to this brand of thrash more often. I now await the simple folks to argue and say it sucks because it isn't "their" thrash.

Damn right it isn't.

Rating: 8 out of 10