Eugenic Death- Crimes Against Humanity

Heaven and Hell Records
2012


This North Carolina band was formed in late 2010. The band released a demo in 2o11, "The Devil Waits", before Heaven and Hell Records stepped in and signed the group. Having already built up a sizable cult following, the 4-piece band (Jonathan McCanless: Lead guitar, Keith Davis: Vocals, Shane Lucas: Bass, Ian Pasquini: Drums) give us another retro-thrash loving album. Eugenic Death's "Crimes Against Humanity" is one of those LPs where the more you listen to it the more likely you are to say "alright, now I get it". Despite the usual "Bay Area" worship that you're probably as tired of as I am (look, I love early Metallica, early Exodus, Testament, etc. as much as the next guy, but when your band sounds like a carbon copy it's just tiring!) and people saying that Eugenic Death are "Bay Are thrash" in nature there is a minimum amount of that influence. Maybe some Exodus and Testament, but more then anything this almost sounds like all those charming second-wave thrash acts that pooped up following the likes of the Big Four. The first run-through of this album (as I was looking for "name" bands to describe this as) had me noting that the album's closing number, "The Practice", sounds a bit like Slayer. On round two the title track (and album opener) brought to mind some early Exodus, but this band is anything but a carbon copy of any of the name brands. There is some Testament and Sepultura (not surprising as they were both influences) , but a huge debt is owed to Demolition Hammer. That right there is the golden ticket! Especially singer-wise as these are some nice gruff vocals the band has going on! That alone brings up out the Demolition Hammer flavor and the flavor is down right tasty! Given the previously listed influences (as well as Iron Maiden, Morbid Saint, Razor, Nuclear Assault, Flotsam and Jetsam, Attacker, E.X.E, Anthrax, Annihilist, Lethal Shock, Tombstalker, etc) and the fact that these four guys approach their music with intensity and integrity this is an album that while not perfect in the sense of being 100% original (although they still don't sound like anyone else in particular and the old-school production makes them seem more genuine then retro anyway) is at least heaps better then the bulk of newer thrash bands coming out of the tunnel. This is a band to keep an eye on.