Any band named after a Sodom song is a friend of mine. With this in mind, me and the boys in Lead Injector hit it off like a house on fire when we hopped on Zoom last week to shoot the breeze. Despite being named after a song off the band’s 2001 masterpiece, M-16, Lead Injector have virtually nothing in common with the modern brutal thrash of that album, instead drawing exclusive influence from the Teutonic blasphemers’ witching metal era of ’83 to ’86. Yes, these young maniacs like their metal fast, raw, and evil, hoisting themselves upon a crowded blackened thrash playing field with something to prove.
Having dropped a promising demo in 2024 entitled From the Crypts…of Hell, it didn’t take long for their debut full length, Witching Attack, to take shape. The album sees the trio revisiting their demo songs, revamping them with a sharper, more precise attack and a proper production job, albeit without stripping the songs of their bestial spirit. There are also a handful of brand new tunes on here, namely the title track, “Pest Thrash”, and “Sacrifice This Bitch”, which showcase how this band has evolved from the demo to full length stage. Well, perhaps “evolved” isn’t the proper word to use here. Rather Lead Injector’s wicked grip on this ancient sound has only gotten stronger, not deviated or “evolved” from point A.
As the opening “Siege upon Heaven” takes hold, there’s no escaping the Lead Injector attack. Those excruciating blackened thrash riffs rip and ravage with the same intensity as Sodom’s In the Sign of Evil, Destruction’s Sentence of Death, and Slayer’s Show No Mercy before it. There’s enough demonic speed to emulsify the brain and equal measures slamming thrash to get the circle pit raging, not just on “Siege”, but also cuts like “Evil Executioner”, “Angel Destructor”, and “Pest Thrash”. When the band switches into mosh mode, it’s apparent that bands like Exodus and Overkill are as crucial to the Lead Injector sound as those aforementioned first wave black metal acts.
Speaking of first wave black metal, there’s no shortage of Venom worship on this album to be enjoyed as well, and done most excellently. Starting with “Sacrifice This Bitch” (whose title could pass for a lost Venom single circa ’82), the hard-nosed thrashing moments are contrasted by some utterly nasty Mantas-inspired riffs, courtesy of “the fastest hand in the east”, Leo. “Chains” doubles down on this Venom influence with its midtempo blackened traditional metal delivery and earworm hooks, while the militant “Infinite Force” showcases the band’s “pure” black metal side, atmospherically speaking, that is. Closing it all out is the young, loud, and snotty “Nuclear Antichrist”: A Venom-esque slab of infernal metalpunk with perhaps unintentional nods to New York miscreants Carnivore, both lyrically and musically.
While I’ve long been a sucker for first wave black metal throwback affairs, not since Sadistic Goatmessiah’s Violence have I been so fulfilled by a release of this nature, and that was roughly 5 months ago, which sounds about right. Every 5-6 months, a blackened thrash/speed album will come across my radar that knocks my socks off and leaves my feet scalding from the fiery coals of hell. Lead Injector’s Witching Attack is certainly the first album of 2026 to hold this honor, and while it might not be the last, I have a hard time fathoming another release of this nature dethroning it anytime soon.
8 out of 10
Label: High Roller Records
Genre: Black/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Sodom, Destruction, Venom
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