Since 1999, thrash metal trio,
Toxic Holocaust, has become lords of the modern thrash metal scene. They continue their legacy with their fifth full-length album
Chemistry of Consciousness. This album contains a lot of
Toxic Holocaust's classic thrashy feel with really fast and tremolo picked power chords and and distorted bass and a constant upbeat tempo.
Toxic Holocaust has been exceptionally good at being the best at modern thrash. Now lets dive into their latest release!
The first thing Im going to talk about is the overall album itself. The overall album, to me, is good. Though the album as a whole is rather short with only a little over thirty minutes of music including the bonus track, It never ceases to stray away from the awesome, headbanging, thrashy tempo that this genre and band are really known for. My only real criticism with this whole album is that it tends to get a little boring and stale as it progresses, though every song is really upbeat and fast and thrashy, it seems to just be power chords over and over again. Although i do like the thrash feel of this record, things could've been a lot more exciting with a few things here and there. With that said there are a lot of parts where the beat is slowed down and it is really groovy, like in such tracks as
Out of the Fire and the title track. As a whole the musicianship of this record is pretty good!
The string work in
Chemistry of Consciousness is great!
Joel Grind and bassist Phil Zeller really morphed into one fantastic and metallic force. The major distortion fo the guitar and bass throughout the album really coincides with the raw voice of
Joel Grind. Some of the best guitar work can be found in one of my favourite tracks
Acid Fuzz (video below), and in
Silence. The solo and the melodies throughout that song really show off the guitar work that is portrayed throughout the rest of the album. A+ to the strings!
The Drums are a bit of a disappointment in this album. The drummer, Nick Bellmore, does a good job throughout the album and he gets the job done, but it seems like he does it half-heartedly. There is no intensely technical or originality to his playing. I'm not saying he isn't a good drummer, it shows that he is a great drummer, but in this album, the drums are a little lackadaisical. Im also pretty sure he recycles a lot of the same beats throughout the entire album. I understand that in thrash metal the drums tend to have the same type of beats but it seems that he could have done a lot of different things to help make this album as groovy, speedy, and trashy as possible. The one song that portrays the drums of the most is my favourite track off this album, Rat Eater!
In conclusion, the fifth full-length
Toxic Holocaust album will not disappoint fans of this band or thrash metal or metal in general! I highly recommend
Chemistry of Consciousness to everyone! I think everyone can find a song or two that he or she can enjoy on this album! Overall i give this album an above average score of 16/20!
You must be logged in to add a comment