Review by Felix on November 13, 2023.

After four years without a new full-length, War Curse return. Soft guitar tones welcome the listener. Is this another intro of the “calm before the storm” category? No, it’s rather an omen. The dudes from Ohio have made some steps from thrash to power / heavy metal. This is usually the wrong direction from my point of view. But I don’t want to prejudge the band for this stylistic move. Not only this – the more I listen to the songs, the more I enjoy them.

Of course, it takes some courage to connect melancholy and thrash, because they are not natural partners. But this is exactly what the musicians do. The songs have an accusatory, thoughtful and mournful aura. Okay, it is true that I miss fury and ferocity to a certain extent. But War Curse score points in other fields. Their melodies are often expressive, because they combine catchiness with force. It’s no brutal force, but the main thing is that any type of sugary lines does not show up on the entire album. The band’s talent to pen great melodies leads almost directly to the next extremely positive detail. War Curse know what has to crown a song. It’s naturally the chorus, and so they deliver a handful of excellent examples. 'Fortress Of Agony', 'Power Of The Powerless', 'The Nothing (That Is Me)' and some more songs boast fantastic chorus lines. That’s doesn't matter of course in view of the dark and fatal touch of the material I have already mentioned. 'The Nothing (That Is Me)' embodies a perfect opener. It’s stomping verses, the great riffs and the clean vocals form a piece that Testament or Metallica would be rightly proud of. Speaking of Testament, "Low" and Confession share more or less the same degree of heaviness. But War Curse do not mix five killers with some fillers. Their mostly mid-paced material is free from obvious stinkers. Instead, they offer cool numbers like 'The Convey'. Here lead singer Blaine Gordon varies his vocals cleverly and presents clean lines as well as raw messages. Additionally, the song shines with a menacing undertone and a discreet yet very expressive vocals line. I agree that its aesthetics lie in very close proximity to some Testament tracks, but I don’t care. I rather enjoy its great melodies once more. Fans of Forbidden will like them as well.

The riffs are never violent, but they do not lack sharpness and profit from the excellent production. This is the adequate, modern sound for the musical offering of the quintet. Transparency is written in big letters and guarantees a profound heaviness. Neither an instrument nor the voice fall by the wayside. This technical elegance goes perfectly with the stylish artwork. This is visual thrash art against the trend: no stupid neon-coloured or “radioactive” cover, painted in shrill yellow or red, makes you think of avoiding the album. At the end of the track list, the album shows little signs of weakness. 'Sowing Division' fascinates with a pretty aggressive instrumental part, but the “brother against brother” part is surprisingly lackluster. Moreover, with the choice of 'Rusty Nail' prove War Curse's taste, but they fail to give the Grip Inc. title its own flavor.

Nevertheless, I hope that Gus Chambers (R.I.P.) enjoys the song wherever in the universe his soul is currently floating. Maybe he even shares my excitement about the formidable closer. 'Illusion Of Choice' is almost as good as the opener and offers the last outstanding chorus. Thus, I must say that War Curse presents simply good music, no pure thrash metal, but still very recommendable sounds.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on November 13, 2023.

After four years without a new full-length, War Curse return. Soft guitar tones welcome the listener. Is this another intro of the “calm before the storm” category? No, it’s rather an omen. The dudes from Ohio have made some steps from thrash to power / heavy metal. This is usually the wrong direction from my point of view. But I don’t want to prejudge the band for this stylistic move. Not only this – the more I listen to the songs, the more I enjoy them.

Of course, it takes some courage to connect melancholy and thrash, because they are not natural partners. But this is exactly what the musicians do. The songs have an accusatory, thoughtful and mournful aura. Okay, it is true that I miss fury and ferocity to a certain extent. But War Curse score points in other fields. Their melodies are often expressive, because they combine catchiness with force. It’s no brutal force, but the main thing is that any type of sugary lines does not show up on the entire album. The band’s talent to pen great melodies leads almost directly to the next extremely positive detail. War Curse know what has to crown a song. It’s naturally the chorus, and so they deliver a handful of excellent examples. 'Fortress Of Agony', 'Power Of The Powerless', 'The Nothing (That Is Me)' and some more songs boast fantastic chorus lines. That’s doesn't matter of course in view of the dark and fatal touch of the material I have already mentioned. 'The Nothing (That Is Me)' embodies a perfect opener. It’s stomping verses, the great riffs and the clean vocals form a piece that Testament or Metallica would be rightly proud of. Speaking of Testament, "Low" and Confession share more or less the same degree of heaviness. But War Curse do not mix five killers with some fillers. Their mostly mid-paced material is free from obvious stinkers. Instead, they offer cool numbers like 'The Convey'. Here lead singer Blaine Gordon varies his vocals cleverly and presents clean lines as well as raw messages. Additionally, the song shines with a menacing undertone and a discreet yet very expressive vocals line. I agree that its aesthetics lie in very close proximity to some Testament tracks, but I don’t care. I rather enjoy its great melodies once more. Fans of Forbidden will like them as well.

The riffs are never violent, but they do not lack sharpness and profit from the excellent production. This is the adequate, modern sound for the musical offering of the quintet. Transparency is written in big letters and guarantees a profound heaviness. Neither an instrument nor the voice fall by the wayside. This technical elegance goes perfectly with the stylish artwork. This is visual thrash art against the trend: no stupid neon-coloured or “radioactive” cover, painted in shrill yellow or red, makes you think of avoiding the album. At the end of the track list, the album shows little signs of weakness. 'Sowing Division' fascinates with a pretty aggressive instrumental part, but the “brother against brother” part is surprisingly lackluster. Moreover, with the choice of 'Rusty Nail' prove War Curse's taste, but they fail to give the Grip Inc. title its own flavor.

Nevertheless, I hope that Gus Chambers (R.I.P.) enjoys the song wherever in the universe his soul is currently floating. Maybe he even shares my excitement about the formidable closer. 'Illusion Of Choice' is almost as good as the opener and offers the last outstanding chorus. Thus, I must say that War Curse presents simply good music, no pure thrash metal, but still very recommendable sounds.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on January 20, 2024.

These days I find it often hard to enjoy many thrash metal albums due to either being highly generic, repetitive, uninspiring or just blad as hell. However, that doesn't mean that I won't give it a chance in case I come across anything eye-catching. In this case, we will be taking a look at the Swedish thrash metal band Xion from Dalarna, with their debut full-length album Between Shadows And Gods, released on January 19th, 2024 via Dalapop. Without wasting any more time, it's time to dive in and thrash hard!

Starting things off with the opening two-minute instrumental track 'Clash', we get a glimpse of the upcoming devastation with the technical thrash metal riffs, melodic guitar solos and dynamic drum patterns. From the second track 'Evil Deeds', this is where the fun begins, as they unleash all hell with the kickass riffing, balls to the walls heavy thrash metal drums, overdriven bass guitar and melodic vocals with backing vocals on choruses. We do get one interlude track 'Caro-Kann' that shifts to the other half of the album, while also giving the listeners a minute to catch their breath, before going back into action with 'Vision Of The Blind'. For the most part, the album keeps track of its thrash metal heaviness and makes sure that the stylistic consistency of the album stays intact, however some songs like 'Death Cap' and 'Shadows' don't shy away from giving you a pure adrenaline shot in the veins with all that tightness and aggression in the music. As the album begins on a high note, so does it end with the closing track 'Buried With Love', with a very symbolic title that perfectly summarizes this experience.

Overall, it is a very standard modern day thrash metal album with traditional genre formulas and songwriting ideas, with some progression and other bits like clean guitar sections that give the songs more character and dynamic flow. A handful of songs have plenty of these intense bone crushing moments that wreck everything apart, all the way down to the riffs, bass lines, guitar solos and drums, which dominate even more with the vocals. Thankfully, the album is very easy to follow along with its total of 9 songs and everything feels focused, mostly due to its stylistic consistency and song arrangements that obviously had a lot of thought put into the creative process, with every idea being in place. Some might complain that this album doesn't really stand out from what we already have in the modern day thrash metal world, but that still doesn't erase the fact that this album has banger songs that keep the sacred flame of this subgenre burning. The sound production of this album is superb and top-notch, providing an excellent guitar tone, crunchy overdriven bass, balls to the wall banging drums and powerful sounding vocals.

Despite the fact that I tend to avoid modern day thrash metal releases, I did find this one very enjoyable to listen to from start to finish. As a thrash metal album, it does its job at being heavy, loud and aggressive, and the members of Xion understood that assignment by taking it with great responsibility and giving all they got. Between Shadows And Gods is a definite must listen for fans of newer thrash metal bands such as Havok and Warbringer, as well as oldschool thrash metal bands like Kreator, Overkill, Megadeth and such.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10