The late 2010s were a great time to be a crossover thrash fan. Power Trip was riding high on the success of their Nightmare Logic album, and so was any other tough as nails, hardcore centric crossover outfit that ran adjacent. One such band was High Command, who seemingly came out of nowhere in 2019 with their debut album, Beyond the Wall of Desolation. Granted, they put out a couple demos beforehand, but this was most peoples first time hearing the band on a large scale. From what I recall, it was a rather no frills, no business crossover affair, chock full of mosh riffs and unparalleled violence. In other words, par the course for a release of this nature.
Taking that into consideration, I’m not sure if anything could’ve prepared me for their sophomore follow up, Eclipse of the Dual Moons. While Eclipse is also a crossover album at heart, the creative evolution High Command has gone through in a few short years is nothing short of drastic, almost parallel to the way Metallica matured from Kill ‘Em All to Ride the Lightning to Master of Puppets. Now don’t take this assessment the wrong way. I’m not saying Eclipse is of that caliber musically. However, it is an observation worth noting and taking into consideration when assessing this band’s subsequent output.
Eclipse opens as straightforward as its predecessor, with an absolutely vicious title track. Taking cues from Hell Awaits era Slayer, 80s death metal, and prime NYHC, I braced myself for an album of knuckle-dragging, two-stepping chaos. Instead, I got what may be the world’s first “progressive crossover” album. Fear not punks and thrashers. There’s still no shortage of mosh anthems scattered about, like the crushing mid-tempo mania of “Immortal Savagery” and blunt brutality of “Siege Warfare”, both of which are further bolstered by the full, crisp production. That said, there’s more going on here than meets the ear.
Many of the compositions on Eclipse are lengthy by extreme metal standards, let alone crossover thrash, but it doesn’t take long to figure out why. The same way Metallica became more progressive with each 80s release, and Slayer embraced slower tempos and doomy riffs come South of Heaven and Seasons in the Abyss, High Command embraces a little bit of both approaches and then some, creating something new in the end. “Imposing Hammers of Cold Sorcery” is the first of these brazen attempts to write an epic thrasher with depth and doom at the forefront. “Omniscient Flail of Infamy” and “Chamber of Agony” also showcase prog tendencies, at least in the arrangement department, while “Fortified by Bloodshed” adapts the eerie, early 70s metal riffage of Sabbath and BÖC to a mid-tempo thrash formula.
By the time the nearly 12 minute “Spires of Secartha” closes things out, one isn’t sure what to make of the musical twists and turns and sporadic detours that make up Eclipse of the Dual Moons. Sure, we can draw comparisons to Metallica and Slayer and Cro-Mags and even Mercyful Fate, but it just doesn’t feel right. No, High Command are a beast unto themselves, determined to grab the 2020s by the throat and become the decade’s masters. The question remains: Is the metal community ready? I know I am.
9 out of 10
Label: Southern Lord Recordings
Genre: Crossover Thrash
For fans of: Power Trip, Slayer, Metallica