Top 10 Thrash Metal Albums of 2024 #1 Xion - Between Shadows and Gods
The New Year has landed ya filthy animals! Time to do a Top 10 Thrash Metal Albums of 2024 and see how last year treated us!
Impossibly young fellas from Sweden make impossibly good Thrash Metal album. It seems my Top 10 list consists of bands that are one of the three: 1. Super young, 2. Super old, and 3. Plain forgotten.
Somethings afoot in the land of meatballs! Xion is another amazing Thrash Metal outfit that has caught me by surprise - I'll review the other one when they have a proper album out. Both bands are very young and its bloody magnificent - if the old farts can't deliver we gotta look at the young chaps. Its as it should be:
Out with the old, in with the new!
Between Shadows and Gods speaks specifically to mid-tempo thrashaholics - indeed, that's the shared characteristic of The Big Four. You can get excited now.
"Evil Deeds" rips up and down, and plain throws the listener away abruptly. Its the shortest proper song on the album and should've been the welcome to this whole thing instead of the useless intro that the album has. Perhaps the best case in point for songwriting on the album, "Vision of the Blind", throws a curve ball in the final third after some proper shreddage. Intro, drama, buildup, and release.
Song structuralization is a delightful, delightful thing. "Men Who Play God" displays the band's ability to partition songs in a meaningful way and keep the thing together; the songs on the album develop with a natural flow into proper entities on their own, and lo and behold: you're banging your head more and more as
the sh!t just keeps on getting sweeter
A more identifiable sound on the album could've increased it's impact but what the hey. Guitars rip, bass churns and drums are spread where they should be. There's good separation of instruments into the stereo field so one can appreciate the talent for what it is without hindrances. Undoubtedly, the producer Johan Reivén has played a vital role on the result, too.
Speaking of performances, the vocalist, Robin Björk's output has to be mentioned. He has a voice and style that suits fast and lighter metal very, very well. Not a technical singer, but a charismatic voice on its own - he squeezes the story in a fittingly ostentatious manner.
Between Shadows and Gods displays hefty nuances of Hard Rock and a toe-wiggle in progressive sh!t. While certainly Thrash Metal, it'll be interesting to see what direction grabs the attention of the young band - here's hoping they'll continue on this route they're speedin' on!
Writing songs in a classical sense is peak art. A good song needs drama and a good album needs its highs and lows to be a truly satisfying and memorable ride. It's here that Xion reminds me of none other than the mighty Metallica - they're bloody building proper songs that sound raw, intense and interesting without degenerating into mere thrashing of the hardware (not that there isn't a time and place for that, too).
High frackin' praise - but this sh!t has all the makings of greatness
Xion promises truly great things for Thrash Metal. If there's a subgenre of metal music in need of a Ghost of their own or some Greta Van Fleet phenomena, its indeed our beloved good ol' Thrash Metal.
Yeah, that's some pressure for the sophomore album alright, but you know what they say about pressure and diamonds and all that sh!t.
Between the Shadows and Gods is one of the best Thrash Metal I've heard in the last... hell, years. Been waiting for a new band in the genre to properly get excited about. The New Wave of Thrash Metal is dead. All hail New New Wave of Thrash Metal. Bloody well done, chaps.
PS. Ditch the AI cover art in the future.
THRASH-O-METER
★★★★★ SONGWRITING
★★★★☆ THEMES
★★★★★ LONGEVITY
★★★★★ PRODUCTION
★★★★☆ THRASHABILITY
SCORE:
★★★★★ THE REAL SH!T (and decimals are for weaklings)
KEY TO THE SH!T
★★★★★ THE REAL SH!T
★★★★☆ BADASS SH!T
★★★☆☆ GOOD SH!T
★★☆☆☆ SH!T FOR FANS
★☆☆☆☆ IT'S SH!T, JIM