Two days in a row of thrash metal album reviews? I promise that I haven’t switched over to a diet of pizza and beer, even if my listening habits of late say otherwise! What’s perhaps even crazier is the fact that both Herzoga and the oddly named Lucille, yesterday’s band in review, hail from Poland. And the icing on the cake? Both albums from said bands happen to be their debut full lengths. Illuminati confirmed? Probably not, but what is confirmed is that thrash is alive and well in the land of pierogis and Vader (the death/thrash band, not the Star Wars antagonist).
I’m not exactly sure how Herzoga crossed my radar, but they must’ve done so at least a month ago, because they already had a spot on my coveted album release calendar. I’m going to assume I was semi-consciously scrolling through Bandcamp one night when their blatantly retro logo and the hellish cover art for Evil Waits for Its Messiah caught my half-asleep eye. Seriously, take a glance at that thing and tell me with a straight face that you don’t get Slayer/Kreator vibes. Exactly. Surely, if the cover gives off Slayer/Kreator vibes too, the music will as well, right? In this case, thankfully it does.
The opening “Evil Messiah” is a punishing old school death-thrasher with neck-snapping riffage and bone-crushing drumming straight out of ’86, sounding like a demonic hybrid of Reign in Blood and Pleasure to Kill. Easily the strongest cut of the bunch, I really hoped this whole affair would follow in this template, and while it unfortunately doesn’t, there is no shortage of violent, bloodhungry, gonzo-thrash outbursts to unleash your inner barbarian to. “Asphyxiated” is a frenzied display of nonstop metallic chaos, at times sounding a bit Sepultura-ish, while “Social Parasite” and the closing “Fatal Insomnia” push thrash to its furthest limits of speed and intensity.
No doubt about it, Herzoga is a band who are at their strongest when disregarding the speed limit of earth, hell, or any other realm they may venture upon. I understand that midtempo mosh-thrashers like “The Cry of Silenced”, “Frozen Wraith”, and “Hidden Deranged Mind” (which does boast a strong chorus) were incorporated to give the affair a sense of variety, something I usually look for in a release of this nature. However, when put next to the aforementioned “Evil Messiah” and “Asphyxiated”, they seem a bit clunky and too tame for their own good. Don’t get it twisted; for midtempo thrash, these songs are good. They just lack the character on display during the album’s fastest moments. The strongest of these outliers is “Rip Them Apart” with its Hell Awaits-esque gallop.
If Herzoga were a baseball player, they’d be at the top of the Triple-A roster. They boast so much potential, charisma, and a hunger so strong I can sense them foaming at the mouth as I type this. What they need to make it to the big leagues is just the slightest hint of refinement: A sharpening of their sonic attack to deliver the deathblow all the time, every time. Perhaps we’ll all bear witness to this inevitable evolution come album #2. Until then, I’ll thrash a-plenty to the quite adequate Evil Waits for Its Messiah, and so should you.
6 out of 10
Label: Independent
Genre: Thrash Metal
For fans of: Slayer, Kreator, Warbringer