Straight off the bat I need to acknowledge prejudice. Plague Years are from Detroit the much-maligned city in Michigan that helped birth punk and metal and brought us Motown. I have family in Detroit and go there often. I have an Old English D tattooed on my forearm as an homage to both the city and the Tigers baseball team. As such I have a propensity to champion music from the city or metropolitan area.
OK that’s out of the way, now onto the death/thrash/hardcore of Plague Years. There is something very, very old school about Circle Of Darkness. Plague Years mix up early Sepultura riffs with Crumbsuckers crossover rhythms and throw in some tough guy hardcore hoarse vocals for good measure. The massive chugs that permeate tracks like “Witness Hell” and recent single “Incantation” mix in with manic fury that is more early death metal than thrash revival. The latter is reminiscent of Nailbomb’s “World of Shit” in its baseball bat to the face intensity. “Paradox of Death” is the millionth track to rearrange the intro to South Of Heaven to good effect – Hell Slayer have been doing it themselves for thirty years. The chunky rasping track that follows is as urgent as a trip to the bog after a late-night vindaloo and offers a similar blessed release!
I am listening to Plague Years just weeks after the death of Riley Gale of Power Trip rocked the world of Metal. Plague Years appear to be cut from the same cloth as the Texans with their driven intensity and youthful exuberance. The fact that Circle of Darkness was engineered by Arthur Rizk who twiddled the knobs for Power Trip and fellow scene stompers Tomb Mold adds to the feeling of freshness that permeates the old school vibes on offer.
The title track is a thrash tour de force with rampant drums from Mike Jurysta and Eric Lauder firing off riffs like he is firing a gatling gun. At times Tim Englehart’s vocal style teeters on the side of caricature with it’s high in the throat wheezy bark , but god damn it works and sweeps me along with it . Rian Staber’s low end reinforces everything and makes sure that Plague Years have a thick heavy sound that bulldozes the listener rather than stab them with steely riffs. NRFTL (No Respect For the Law) is a beefy tough hardcore bruiser cruising Gratiot looking for trouble to get into which segues neatly into “World In Blood” with its classic late 80’s Crossover stylings.
Plague Years are not reinventing the wheel here. This is big riffed chunky crossover thrash that flips up all the right cap peaks and pulls up all the right hi-top tongues.
(7/10 Matt Mason)
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