One of the best thing about reviewing is it genuinely keeps reminding you of how little you know. I mean case in point, Obnoxious Youth. Yet another name I had not crossed paths with before so on a quick glance of course they have around a twenty year history and two previous full lengths. But also it can be cool. At its best it can be like being handed a scrawled invitation and stumbling into a party at two o’clock in the morning and finding that it’s still raging and I have to catch up….

So the band seem to lurk in that broad area of speed metal with other influences according to the blurb. And signed to the eclectic Svart label for this too. I buckle in, open my mind and hit that play and see what hits me.

Ah, that’s nice. A gentle, moody almost classical waltz intro. ‘Alpha Diabolos’. So they must be pussycats really….ow!

I pick myself up from the straight-to-the-face punch that is the riff for ‘Imminent Evil’. Speed/thrash metal with that tinge of black in the harsh vocals and almost grind speed. Starting and stopping on a dime, as they say but with that energetic riff just constant one-two punching you and a great heavy metal lead break squealing and squalling away.

Yeah Ok this might be a rough ride (as Raven once warned).

Then the title track begins with just an absolutely glorious straight heavy metal riff before the gear change screeches and we’re off again. It’s weirdly catchy, the energy is hugely contagious and they almost make me remember when I had hair and could flail with the best of them. Really not sure where to put them; a teeny bit of the kind of Midnight feel in the harder bits, Speedtrap maybe from the two albums I own. But a superb grasp of traditional and NWOBHM too. This gives it the melodic hooks that riddle the chainsaw lightspeed riffs. Hellripper territory I think, no higher praise indeed. But yes that kind of feel. Utterly relentless, dizzying playing and an absolutely savage sense of fun.

For a shot from nowhere for me this is bewildering in the absolute best sense.

‘Black Magic Whore’ has a superb tempo change from the speedy chug of the riff to the hook and the bass dance before the lead break is just a big grin moment. It just gets to me I guess.

‘Torrents Of Black Blood’ is almost a breather, a mid-paced beast that instead of speed has a darker tone and the raw vocals work so well here; insane, vicious and morbid. An organ sound brings the classic horror feel, a cheeky brief nod to Black Sabbath for half a riff piles it on. Perfectly placed mid album too.

‘Ultra Death’ has a gothic intro that weirdly reminds me of CoF ‘From The Cradle To Enslave’ before it rips into a Hellhammer style riff, a pinch of Slayer and a whole ton of Obnoxious Youth. ‘Bitchzkrieg’ is a thunderous heads down charge that still somehow remains catchy. ‘Ethereal Termination’ on the other hand leans heavily into NWOBHM but those twisted vocals really add another dimension, and this song actual goddamn bounces with a fantastic riff. Again. Sounds like something Neat Records might have put out just with way more attitude than those times.

‘Phantasma’ accelerates things again.’Tornado Of Blades’ lulls you with a mid-paced, melodic opening that drips atmosphere and menace before the blades hit.

We end with ‘Omega Therion’. Space stuttering keyboards and a cool, slow tune winds up. It’s an instrumental…mostly, was about two and half minutes in the gothic organ resurfaces and we get a wonderful, doomy shift. Clean vocals seem to squabble with each other, and the rich guitar drapes of velvet cloak over the album. Seriously unexpected, seriously fantastic and once more proof that they may prefer overdrive but they know where all the gears are.

Burning Savage absolutely went for me and shattered my defences with high speed melody and ripping riffs, sharp songwriting and playing and also that knack of knowing how to build an album, how to pace it and how to leave me wanting more.

You see this is also the bad thing about reviewing bands you’ve never heard or heard of. Now I have to go and get their back catalogue! Damn. But what a blast, what a ride. Late to the party I may be but this party is certainly still burning the house down.

Best speed metal I’ve heard since the last Hellripper. Just fantastic.

 (8.5/10 Gizmo)

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https://obnoxiousyouth.bandcamp.com/track/burning-savage