Список групп Thrash Metal Dust Bolt Trapped in Chaos

Dust Bolt must be moving up in the world, because their new album was readily available at my record store, for the first time. Their twenty fourteen effort, Awake the Riot, was a rugged and explosive affair. They borrowed some structures from Exodus and Old Man’s Child, but they still hadn’t incorporated any high note shredding. Then their twenty sixteen album, Mass Confusion, was their best endeavor yet. They improved a lot with high note shredding and some blazing fast crossover textures. It came across like 4Arm meets Municipal Waste. This latest release, Trapped in Chaos, comes in a jewel case with simple album art. It looks like a celestial black hole and is colored in only black and white. Which is a departure from the colorful and more elaborate works of art that graced their previous albums. The booklet shows the lyrics and two band photos of this young quartet, in black and white. So will they continue the trend of enhancing their brand thrash with high note shredding in these new compositions?

The album kicks off with The Fourth Strike, as they play a gloomy thrash rhythm at a slow tempo. Then they soon break out with a faster thrash rhythm, with some New York mosh style. “Trapped in a maze, in a horror pace.” “Trapped in walls of time, trapped in this nightmare.” The guitarists shift riffs at midrange rhythms, which are head banging enough, but not too melodic. They drive from the midrange notes down to the lower notes, with a lot of roughness. “See this fire lit, demolition at its birth.” “Hear the blistering, destruction through your bones.” Lenny Breuss usually hollers out his lines with a slightly hoarse vocal strain and a no frills attitude. There is often a tone of anger in his voice, with a mean persona, similar to Dave Mustaine. But at other times he sings with a relaxed flow, like Joe Elliot of Def Leppard. He doesn’t yell or scream very much on this album, like he did in the past.

As always, this thrash band features two guitarists, with Flo Dehn at lead and the vocalist doubles on rhythm. They usually drive down deep from the midrange notes into the lower notes. They often thrash coarsely with crusty textures that are almost catchy, but not too melodic. Although the solos hit the high notes, there is no high note shredding. The fourth song, Bloody Rain, abruptly busts out with strong power chords. The drummer beats along with some shuffling patterns and the stringed instruments soon take on a vigorous chopping rhythm. Lenny utters out his lines with an easy going temperament. “If I count down the bloody days, a fact, no quarantine.” “If I come down and wasted me, a trap run through a bloody maze.” Then about midway in it takes on a more dramatic character, with a bay area thrash texture similar to Testament.
Track number seven, Killing Time, throws down with energetic thrashing. The guitarists shift their riffs at a faster tempo and the drummer pounds away speedier than usual. Lenny hollers out his lines with a bit more excitement. “Time…are we just wasting time?” “With pictures in our mind, of things we chase but can’t need inside.” There is a high note guitar solo about half way in. Then they ruthlessly pick up the intensity with some harsh thrashing rhythms. Bassist Bene Munzel doesn’t go down too low with the notes. It’s often hard to discern the bass music from the guitars, since they both usually play midrange notes. The bass is fastly plucked to accommodate the sudden time changes. From time to time he adds some subtle thrust to these compositions.

Drummer Nico Remann plays fast and then slower, alternating between the tempos. There are occasional stutter beats, but nothing too flashy or melodic. Depending on the intensity, he beats the drums harder or softer. He enhances the songs with subtle shuffling patterns. The final offering, Another Day in Hell, comes across as an eighties styled metal ballad. The guitar picking, bass plucking and drum beats have eased up in intensity. The vocalist sings with a lilt that sounds like it was borrowed from the classic Aerosmith song, Kings and Queens. “Tried to seek what I’ve never did, I’ve never seen before.” “Lost in the pace of the battle these days, in the battle of something more.” Then soon the drum beats become harder and the lead guitar blares out upward and then downwards in the note spectrum. It’s a very dramatic track with wavering liveliness.

Trapped in Chaos doesn’t have any high note shredding. There are high note guitar solos instead. As in their first two albums, it is rich in midrange thrashing, which drag down to the lower notes. Some thrash bands have done more with just one guitarist. But it comes down to the song writing. Trapped in Chaos isn’t as intense as their previous albums were. This time they went with milder textures that are retro to the late eighties. It sounds something like Testament crossed with Razor. The vocals aren’t as exciting as they were in the past. The lyrics seem to concern the drudgery of life and growing up into maturity. The drum work used to be a lot better. It was flashier, with a lot more melodic beat tone patterns. This is probably their most laid back effort yet. But this is what they needed to do. Their first two albums sounded very similar. So Mass Confusion and Trapped in Chaos both sound unique in their discography. Trapped in Chaos is probably the least good album of the four, but it’s still a halfway decent headbanger.