Condition Critical aren’t the only thrash band keeping the speed-obsessed, ultra-violent sound alive and well in 2025. So are Electrocutioner. This New York based power trio have been on my radar for at least a couple years now, though I hadn’t checked out any of their work beforehand. They certainly fall into the category of a “new band”, having formed in 2020 and releasing a string of music in the form of EPs, singles, and demos ever since. Harbinger is the band’s second album, coming just a couple years after their debut full length, False Idols. If this album is anything like that, I’ve got some homework to do.
Harbinger wastes no time cutting to the chase, incinerating the listener’s senses with the short sharp shock of “Doomsday Device”. The riffing, drumming, and vocals give off serious Persecution Mania vibes, which is always a welcome comparison in my book. After all, that album did boast a song entitled “Electrocution”, so it would check out if Electrocutioner were a Sodom worship band. However, as Harbinger continues to unfold, it turns out they bear a closer resemblance to another legendary Teutonic thrash act, Destruction, specifically their reunion era.
Whereas black-thrash revivalists like Witchtrap and Deathhammer have forged entire careers off the Sentence of Death formula, Electrocutioner lies closer to the classic meets modern aesthetic of albums like All Hell Breaks Loose (2000) and The Antichrist (2001). There’s no shortage of ’80s tropes in the rapid fire riffing, harsh vocals, and orthodox arrangements, but the production is most certainly new school, yet without stripping the songs of that primal savagery so needed to make a compelling thrash record. The aforementioned vocals come off a bit blackened at times, but the songs themselves are largely straightforward thrashers, emphasizing unrelenting force above all.
There are unavoidable nods to Slayer on the anthemic title track, while mosh anthem “Heaven’s Gate” channels the hardheaded crossover of Power Trip or Wraith at their punkiest. “Frozen File” pummels with a battering ram riff/drum attack, and “Final Prophet” could be a lost cousin of Destruction’s “Death Trap”. It’s during the album’s back half, however, that Electrocutioner truly take charge. From “End of Days” to “The Chariot”, and “Azazel” into “Seven Seals of Koresh”, each song grows more frenzied and deranged, really pushing the overall effort over the top in terms of atmosphere and memorability. A mindless nostalgia-thrash throwaway band, this is not.
Harbinger is far from a game changer, but it’s yet another high quality thrash album in a year that, oddly enough, has been full of high quality thrash albums. Perhaps increasingly insane times call for increasingly insane metal? Or maybe those dorks who traded their Anthrax shirts for Tomb Mold long-sleeves circa 2017 are realizing that bearded hipster death metal was never good to begin with? Perhaps an unholy combination of both? Either way, Electrocutioner have shocked me with Harbinger, and there’s no denying they’ll do the same for you. Take my word for it: You’ll need to triple knot your high tops for this one!
7 out of 10
Label: CDN Records
Genre: Thrash Metal
For fans of: Destruction, Sodom, Toxic Holocaust