Review by Felix on August 12, 2026.

Black thrash is certainly not the most sophisticated form of metal, but who cares? Shabby, seemingly primitive music can have its very own charm and Strikehammer from Italy have set themselves the task of doing their bit to contribute to this idiosyncratic niche. The artwork is as idiotic as it can be, but it mirrors an extremely cool form of idiocy, because it leaves no doubt about the musical content and I guess the artists don't want us to take it too seriously. So I lean back and expect 34 minutes of straight, easily consumable and more or less perfidious metal. The gloomy intro reinforces my hopes, but unfortunately, "Midnight Inferno" does not fully convince me.

Perhaps the Italians do not share my definition of primitive music (and of course they do not need to do this). For me, simple yet cool music relies on a minimum of expressive riffs per song. That kind of riffs is missing on this debut sometimes. Instead, some of the songs have a minimum of substance and this component leads to primitiveness. Okay, maybe just another approach, but not my favourite one. "Morbid Black Steel" is the prime example of a black thrasher that falls short of expectations. Stale guitar lines, no catchy elements, not one exciting compositional idea. I don't say that this track or the equally vapid closer suck, but they reek of mediocrity. Fortunately, three goats cannot totally fail.

The title track and quasi-opener is a straight, compact thrash torpedo. It calls it a day before exceeding the three minute mark and I don't get the (positive) feeling that anything was missing. "Inglorious" runs in the same vein. Due to its less exciting guitar lines, it is slightly weaker yet still okay. Anyway, what becomes clear during these tracks is that the production works well. Perhaps a higher degree of aggressiveness would have been a good idea, but at the end of the day, all usual elements (including average vocal performances) are quite well balanced and, in alignment with the material, reduced to the essentials. The first more complex (prog metal fans burst out laughing and collapse right now), almost epic track is "Perdition Rites". It comes up with an unexpected, eerie instrumental part after three and a half minutes which contributes an additional, nice aroma to the song. Moreover, it indicates the song-writing skills of the trio. Too bad that they hide it when it comes to faceless, somehow meaningless exhibits such as the boozy and partly bluesy "Street Demons". At four and a half minutes, it's certainly not excessively long, but by the halfway point at the latest, I was already looking forward to its final chord.

These ups and downs accompany the listener till the end of the album. This makes me think that Strikehammer should put more effort into their second album. They have the potential to write good songs, but they don't do it continuously. This is the exact opposite of my local football team: it has no potential and consistently plays badly. However, on a global scale, football is no good topic for both Italians and Germans like me. So just one question remains. Are lines like "Of metal its wheels, metal of steel, metal is all we can feel" still funny or already silly? That's up to you. I am only responsible for the overall rating, thank God.

Rating: 6.6 out of 10