Ghoul-Transmission Zero

TANKCRIMES
2011

When Metal Mark first sent this promo to me for review I have to admit to being somewhat ignorant of Ghoul. The most I knew about this Ghoul (since there are numerous bands that go by the name) was that the band featured some members of Impaled (Ross Sewage & Sean McGrath) and that they were costumed characters like Gwar and Lordi. Honestly when I downloaded Transmission Zero and hit play I expected this to be some sort of punked-off Misfits/Gwar/Lordi hybrid band. Instead I was pleasantly surprised to hear the sounds of classic crossover. From doing a little research into this horror themed band it seems as if they formed with the sole purpose of showing appreciation for old school crossover thrash metal. Well, I learned that and that the band are supposedly mutants from "Creepsylvania" and that their names are Cremator, Fermentor, Digestor, and Dissector. In reality this Oakland, California band features members of various thrash, death and black metal bands and that they released their debut full-length album, We Came for the Dead in 2002. Transmission Zero makes album number four for Ghoul and if the other albums sound this retro then I'll have to look into them. Get past the Gwar inspired gimmick and what you have is heavy crossover thrash metal. This album falls somewhere along the lines of Metallica, Exodus, Lääz Rockit, C.O.C., S.O.D., Slayer and Anthrax getting involved in a beer-fueled, fist fight to the death. While the band are set to hit the road with Gwar shortly this gut-buster album is full on hard edged eighties style thrashcore. Don't worry if you think the theatrics are silly because this album rages.