Can Of Worms, from Bayonne, France are a four piece who blend thrash metal and death metal and are currently on album #2 – “Kult of Nuke”. The French thrash death outfit promise a healthy dose of what they describe as ‘Nuclear Thrash Metal’… Better get the Geiger counter out then to see what this hits at.
Opening up the album with tribal, war like drums, fluid sweeping guitar leads and ominous sounding synths, “Altered Genesis” is a statement of intent. Harshly growled and shouted vocals fashioned into a war chant help build up the intensity and as the final vocal roar trails off, “Hybrid Heaven” with its gratuitous use of blastbeats smashes into you. Full of the ferocity of classic death metal with the intensity of thrash, think Morbid Angel meets Exodus, the hard hitting track pulls no punches. Breakneck speed and pounding rhythm work played with great precision provide the backdrop to the twin vocal assault which slips between angry thrash and harsh death metal growls with minimal fuss and the lead work is every bit as flashy as you’d expect – technically precise where needed but aggressive enough to balance the right mix of death and thrash styles. A great opening offering!
“Abyss” seems to flow perfectly from the previous track with more blast friendly drums and buzzing guitars which descend into a real powerful groove before adopting a more melodic death metal style of riffing with a strong thrash undercurrent for the verses. It sounds evil, it sounds heavy and the switching of vocal styles to reflect the feel is a great touch. Getting more frantic round the middle section with a powerful groove to it too, the intensity of the track stays the same and there are some fantastic riffs underneath a sweeping lead solo before it goes towards a machine gun like approach for the breakdown which shifts into a big harmonic laden groove to round the song off. “Chemical Witchcraft” takes a page out of the Slayer playbook with a wailing solo to open it up before launching a series of aggressive sounding fast riffs with just as fast drums backing it up. Full of anger, driven on by a relentless pace, this song keeps the intensity of the album going, even when it adopts a more groove laden feel round the 2 minute mark. The intricate riffs and little lead fills and mini solo’s which litter the track keep it sounding fresh and the harmony work between the guitar and bass towards the final chorus goes down well too.
“Children of Nuke” is more death metal orientated than thrash. It starts off with a real crushing brutal feel before it goes into a sound which is very reminiscent of At The Gates – precise, memorable and melodic riffs with some fantastic rhythm work. When it slows down, the groove feel is great and has the perfect feel for headbanging to and when it shifts to the faster pace, it keeps the heaviness up before alternating between these two styles to great effect. As like the rest of the album, the lead guitar is furious but it has a slightly grating sound to it at times which is the only thing which lets it down really. Thankfully it recovers well, switching back to the brutal sound from the intro to end strong. “Doomsday Preacher” opens up with a bass and drum focused intro with some shouted vocals before the guitars fade in to bring back the thrash/melodeath sounding intricate riffs. Chugging riffs in the verse with some lead melody over them help set the tone and when the track switches to a more death metal feel halfway through it has a real powerful impact. Teasing between fast and slow, thrash and death, this track keeps itself from going stale and the exotic sounding lead adds an interesting touch to the overall sound.
“Endless Vortex” keeps with the powerful chugging thrash like feel. Pulling no punches and full of attitude, the music and scathing vocal delivery, this track is the musical embodiment of anger. Melodic, fast and intricate lead work leads to an even faster section which has more death metal undercurrents to it and the frantic pace and feel of the track works great. “Arachnid” keeps this theme up with solid rhythm work and a furious delivery, especially with the vocals which include a line guaranteed to strike fear into any arachnophobes out there (Venomous Arachnid Thrash Attack!). It’s a real hard hitting track and the rhythm section really stands out on this one, even under the solo you can’t help but admire the tenacity of the rhythm section locking everything down brilliantly. It’s a great thrash track and should go down a storm in the live setting.
“Colossal Maelstrom” is a damn heavy track. The bass pounds and the drums are delivered with blistering speed before a powerful groove takes over, granting what you might think is a slight reprieve but the fast paced thrash and death metal influences kick in again, bringing back the frantic and intense sound which runs throughout this album. Intricate riffs blended with chugging chords, powerful groove and hard hitting vocals keep the intensity of the previous track and the solo is classic Slayer – wailing, fast paced and in your face. “Blasphemic God” keeps it going with a steadily building intro before kicking into a hard hitting deathy-thrash feel. Fast paced, relentless and angry, this scathing attack features more frantic leadwork and some tremendous drumming once more. Slowing down in the final third, it adopts a more groove laden approach under the shouted vocals before kicking back in to the frantic thrash pace to solidly end the track and setting up the album closer. “Future Breed Necromancer” like the rest of the album has precise rhythm work. Buzzing guitars, tight drums and a thick bass build the feel and the death metal edge remains throughout the song. Hitting just as hard as the rest of the album, the closing track draws together the various sounds and neatly packages them into a powerful number. Relentless in the verses and choruses, the song only really slows for the solos which begin in the final third of the track. Exotic sounding, melodic and intricate, they really stand out over the gradually increasing intense backing music before it explodes into the fast paced death metal approach one more time to draw the album to a close.
“Kult of Nuke” is a great album. It takes the best bits of thrash and death metal and blends them together to create a real angry and intense record. Whether you like thrash or death, you need to get this album. It’s explosive and if the band carry on with this intensity, don’t be surprised to see a mushroom cloud sized crowd begging for more in their wake.
(8/10 Fraggle)
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