Originally a black thrash outfit from Norway, when I first saw these guys live at London Live Evil fest they looked very young indeed, maturing in age and musicianship we now have their second full length release ‘Unstoppable Power’. The vocals are more refined and give more of a thrash flavour (early Slayer, Sodom, Ranger) rather than their earlier material. The music is still gut wrenchingly fast and raw, but there is a bit of warmth to this rawness you hear from time to time.
Particular highlights include ‘Riders of Violence’ which follows a similar path to earlier material. The real attention grabbing tune is the title track ‘Unstoppable Power’ and the following ’83 Days of Radiation’. With the title track, there’s a raw energy but also a slower mid-section that really captivates your desire to head bang. With ’83 days…’ there’s a slight Motorhead edge and momentum with the chord structures used on top of the barbaric speed (that appears to increase as the track progresses) and vocal that accompanies, the solo, is much more bluesy metal, pretty cool and this is why I suppose this stands out most for me on the album. There’s clear definition amongst the chaos. You’ll appreciated the album more on a real stereo as this captures the mix better, just a minor point. Some of the reverb on the vocal is very common now, but it harks back to the early Slayer days. The darker side of music is here, but as I have said earlier, it’s more extreme thrash, albeit some of the tracks are quite long for the speed and depth presented but that does waver expectation of favour.
For the eagle eyed among you, the artwork has a similar presentation and style to that of Sadistik Exekution, well it should it was done by Rok from the said band.
All in all, whilst maintain the rawness of the demo and first release, Condor have matured both in age and in song writing. The songs are more cohesive and over exhibit power with precision unlike some peers in order to maintain the rabid harshness of some of the tracks. Definitely recommended if you love the Kolbotn thrashers union which includes such bands as Obliteration, Deathhammer, Darkthrone, Nekromantheon
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
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