Top 10 Thrash Metal Albums of 2024 #5 Dead Tree Seeds - Toxic Thoughts
Xmas is upon us ya filthy animals! Time to do a Top 10 Thrash Metal Albums of 2024 and see how the year has treated us!
Not going too deep into extramusical matters, but regardless of having a seemingly tumultuous past with the good ol' swinging door syndrome (or perhaps its just because of that!) this lé French troupé have cooked up quite the album.
Toxic Thoughts is nuanced and rewarding without being a pile of progressive sh!t, or even Technical Thrash Metal for all that matter. This is a damn hard feat to achieve. Unabashedly calling you into the pit but at the same time making you miss a step and go "huh?", and get your bum twisted by the horde.
Le Hell did I just listen?
"The Victor's Anthem" is a diverse and gruff welcome at an arm's length - after an intro and a straightforward romp of "Pure Hate", though. The titular "Toxic Thoughts" lulls you into a pounding commentary of the individual and a cry of alarm at that - very, very topical in this world of sh!t of ours.
"Compendium" is one of the few instrumental songs I remember listening (ever) where I was genuinely interested of whats coming next. Sure, theres some called for shreddage, but by golly, if this one isn't also full of awesome riffs and character.
The album is chock full of treats
What either breaks and makes the album for you are the raspy, throaty shrieks of the vocalist Franck Le Hard. I wouldn't go so far as to say that the album would fall flat without him but here his theatrics certainly are the icing on the cake.
There is a degree of discovery present; a thrill of making music that is above all: fun to play and perform. Unsurprisingly this results in music that is also great to listen to - such a surprise, that!
Toxic Thoughts isn't the easiest or most straightforward albums of Thrash Metal out there - but it certainly is one of the most interesting I've heard in a long while. Feels like a new layer is excavated on each listening. Dead Tree Seeds ain't re-inventing the wheel here but they are certainly giving it an interesting spin!
THRASH-O-METER
★★★★☆ SONGWRITING
★★★★☆ THEMES
★★★★☆ LONGEVITY
★★★☆☆ PRODUCTION
★★★☆☆ THRASHABILITY
SCORE:
★★★★☆ BADASS SH!T
(decimals are for weaklings)