Meshiaak

Thrash is a difficult form to get right. At its worst Thrash sounds like a buzzsaw over a machine gun with a demented troll screaming as he cums painfully. At its best though Thrash is incredibly exciting, riff laden and powerful with dark and disquieting poetry in the lyrics.

Meshiaak are, to all intents and purposes, a Thrash supergroup. Jon Dette (drums) has done his time with Slayer, Anthrax, Testament and Iced Earth while guitarist Dean Wells was with Teramaze and vocalist Danny Camilleri is from 4Arm. Nick Walker rounds the band out on bass.

They manage to make one of the best meatal sounds I’ve heard this year. Driven by Dette’s incredible drumming and smashing out monster riffs, Camilleri’s vocals are as good as any I’ve heard on a metal album for ages.

The production is stunning with a dense and almost miasmic soundstage but somehow achieving real separation of the different elements of the band so you are able to focus on different parts each time you dip in to the album (and I have dipped in a lot).
The shock to me though was the variety of styles that the band produce, touching on pure thrash one moment and then into metal a la Lamb of God meets Maiden or Sword style Prog Metal. 9 tracks and 9 very different songs, loaded with melody and powerfully presented.

Personal favourites are ‘Drowning Fading Falling’ which builds from a string-laden opener into a massive slab of metal and opener ‘Chronicles Of The Dead’ – classic Thrash. ‘It Burns At Both Ends’ has a distinctly NWOBHM feel to it with the pealing guitars and variations on pace while ‘Maniacal’ manages to put over the title in every element of the song.

I have to say that Meshiaak surprised me.
I have grown bored with the metal scene as all the bands have either ‘grown up’ or lost their edge but these guys are a real breath of fresh air.