Early Man-Death Potion

The End
2010

As with their previous albums Early Man still sound like it's 1985. Think back to the early days of thrash when the riffs were raw the production was thin, but the energy and the enthusiasm were high. This is where Early Man's approach stems from. They have obviously spent a lot of time sitting around a basement, garage or whatever listening to the early efforts of Metallica, Exodus, Megadeth, Overkill and others. That's exactly how they sound. On some songs they shine and bring the power of early thrash with them. On other songs they sound rather pedestrian and just seem to be going through the motions. For the most part they do enough to make fans of old style trash appreciate them. However the big down side for me is they accomplished that several years ago. I don't feel that they have moved ahead or even tried to move beyond where they were a few years ago. What they are doing is good, but other than playing this disc a few times for review purposes am I really going to return to "Death Potion" this year if I want to hear thrash? Likely not because although good they are sure not one of the best playing retro thrash or old style metal today. This is a good album, but they never really push to get beyond sounding like a merely decent band from 25 years ago.