As much as metalheads try to subscribe to the “Don’t judge a book by its cover” ethos, the fact of the matter is a moniker on its own can singlehandedly make or break a band. For example, there’s a reason Scorpions went onto become a global household name while Pink Cream 69 didn’t. So when a new Dying Victims-helmed act by the name of Lucille crossed my radar, I must admit that I didn’t just do a double take, but a triple take. With a name like that, best case scenario was I’d be treated to some sleazy gutter glam à la GN’R. Worst case, some Lilith Fair lesbo infiltrated the DV roster and was about to torture my eardrums in real time. Turns out both scenarios were proven wrong.
Shockingly enough, Lucille are a hard-thrashing riff brigade hailing from Poland. How they settled upon this moniker is beyond me. Could it have been the name of a local witch? A forgotten WWII battle? A giant in-joke that the rest of us have been left out of? Whatever the case may be, I guess I’ll have to give this band credit for turning heads with their blatantly unique name. Equally as head-turning is the fare that makes up their debut full length, Dawn of Destruction, which sees the band wielding 9 outbursts of total thrash devastation.
What immediately caught my ear about this release was the production. If you played Dawn of Destruction for me blindly, I would’ve believe it came straight out of ’86, and not just because of its musical influences, which we’ll get to shortly. No, the way the instruments are mixed and the overall impact of the songs themselves sound convincingly retro in a manner I haven’t heard a thrash album capture in a while. If nothing else, Dawn of Destruction will go toe to toe with Interceptor’s Metal Death come the end of the year for the most aesthetically accurate throwback metal album of 2025.
As for the songs themselves, nothing here reinvents the wheel, but that was never the point to begin with. In fact, I’m almost POSITIVE that lead riff on “Brand New World” is a direct lift of Sacrifice’s “Re-Animation”, but I’ll chalk it up to a heartfelt homage. The two albums I’d best use as reference points when comparing Lucille’s thrash onslaught are Megadeth’s Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying? and Destruction’s Eternal Devastation. This is straightforward thrash that occasionally teeters on the edge of technical showmanship, yet without ever taking away from the brute force of the songs themselves. Trenchant conniptions like “Genetic Curse” and “Prophets of Disease” are guaranteed to get your high-tops working overtime, while midtempo knuckle-draggers like the closing “Machine of Death” showcase a commendable attempt at hard-nosed mosh-thrash.
Come the back end of Dawn of Destruction, things start get a bit samey in terms of pacing, riffing, and overall structure, yet even at its most predictable, it remains far more exciting of an effort than the glut of faceless thrash that clogs my inbox for consideration on the daily. I must also give a pentagram-carved hand to my choice cut, “Nightstalker”, which rips right through you like a lost Whiplash jam circa Power and Pain. This savage blast in and of itself is worth the price of admission as far as this online metal journalist is concerned, so get some shuteye while you can; the Dawn of Destruction is upon us. Who thought a broad named Lucille could be so lethal?
7 out of 10
Label: Dying Victims Productions
Genre: Thrash Metal
For fans of: Destruction, Megadeth, Sacrifice