Band's List Thrash Metal Draksen Draksen

Recorded at a time when Thrash Metal as a genre was falling rapidly out of popularity, Draksen's debut album wanted to be many things: a sort of "greatest hits" package for the older fans (over 60% of the songs in here appeared on previous demos), a "current state of mind" album (with 3 brand new songs that displayed the band's abilities to play hyper fast, melodic and technical) and a "glimpse at the future" album (the track "uncertainty" was shelved and did not make it on to the album). Presenting a rather dry production and trebly guitar sound, the album nontheless sounds powerful and well executed. "Bigger than Life" opens with a thrash metal style in the vein of Metallica and bay area bands. It's one of their longest songs, with many time changes and some virtuosic soloing. "Thrashcore" an old track from their first demo, is revamped into an all-out thrash fest more akin to WEHRMACHT or SADUS. "From Beyond" sounds more devastating that the version on their demo. Some songs that stray a bit from the band's usual thrash style are "I Want My Money Back", a hardcore sing-a-long song with balst beats (!), "Fin", which makes NAPALM DEATH's "You Suffer" sound like a 10 minute epic song, and "Swedish Gods", featuring some excutiatingly slow doom metal along with a VENOM-like vibe and some rotten vocals. "Improved Hatred" is one of the album's stand out songs. It is extremely fast, with riffs that sound finger breaking and some cool time changes.

It was sad to see this album available only on Tape but internet rumors say a re edition on CD is on its way. Draksen, unlike peers TRANSMETAL, NEXT and CENOTAPH, never went beyond that one album. Certainly the unsung heroes of Mexican underground metal.