Poland’s Bloodthirst were on my radar about 8 years ago, to be honest, I lost touch with them, so it’s refreshing that they are still doing what they do and releasing new material. ‘Chalice of Contempt’ is their first release in three years and only their third full length album, their nasty and harsh variation of thrash is in tune with the Teutonic terrors but it also has some harsher elements that could stumble into blackened thrash and older raw black metal circles peppered here and there like rotten fruit. Whatever the categorisation is, this anti-Christianity manifestation is a full on slap in the face.
The first three tracks are really chaotic and don’t really appeal that much, its standard bastardized harsh thrash, however, get to ‘No Way Out of Hell (Emptiness of Dying)’ and ‘Break the Bounds of Flesh and Blood’, now we have some major interest. The band has calmed down by this point creating vivid melodies hidden amongst brash explosions of extremity and raspy spine tingling vocals. Filth and fury go hand in hand with more thoughtful and thorough arrangements. I often find me calling this black metal, then thrash metal, it’s a touch of an enigma, but it is pleasing let’s get that straight.
There is a sense of unpredictability about this release, at one turn you are getting into the tantric thrash movements and rhythms, them the curveball blackened riff appears as if from nowhere. The transition is smooth, there is certainly nothing offensive in this change, it’s an amalgamation of a few things. By the time you get to ‘Mutant Nihilism’ (great title!), Bloodthirst are firing on all cylinders with the now controlled chaos playing a hybrid of thrash with some nasty black metal influences. I suppose for the uninitiated an easy comparison would be Germany’s Nocturnal, but Bloodthirst are not totally the same.
This release is raw at times, very filthy and quite an easy listen once you have given the release some time. We are not talking anything different here, but ‘Chalice of Contempt’ is a nihilistic release flourishing in the darker spectrum of Teutonic thrash.
(7/10 Paul Maddison)
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