Vicious Blade first crossed my radar last year when our good pals at Wise Blood Records featured them on the second installment of their ongoing Faster than the Devil series. Their crusty, unrelenting spin on ’80s thrash immediately grabbed my attention, and how could it not? This was the musical equivalent of being pinned against the wall by some metalpunk mutant, lethal animosity flowing through his (or her) veins. Impressed as I was by these three rampaging outbursts, I knew best to keep my eyes and ears out for a proper full length outing from these barbarians, which we are thrilled to be reviewing today.
If we ranked our 2024 year end list by the appropriateness of album titles, Relentless Force might just come out on top. It is an absolutely relentless affair, sandwiching 9 songs into the dense space of just a little under 28 minutes, and is forceful from beginning to end. One can’t help but think back to old school classics like Reign in Blood or In the Sign of Evil when assessing this short and anything but sweet album, both classics of which rear their ugly heads in the riffs, drumming, and overall delivery of this absolute beast.
In an age where thrash has largely been reduced to a copy/paste algorithm, and crust has managed to become even more one dimensional, Vicious Blade seamlessly fuses both musical extremities with feral rage, made evident from the opening title track. The riffs are over the top, the d-beats are chaotic, and frontwoman Clarissa Badini’s vocals are absolutely unhinged, sounding like a cross between Tom Angelripper and Sacrilege’s Tam Simpson. Speaking of Sacrilege, their influence runs strong throughout, as they are undisputedly the be all, end all of thrash-crust hybrids. This is especially evident on crustier rippers like “Forged Steel”, “Nocturnal Slaughter”, and “Scorched”.
When they aren’t cranking out ragers guaranteed to get thrashers and crusties moshing in unity, Vicious Blade run the gamut of ’80s metal and punk sounds, with many cuts bordering on full blown blackened thrash. Look no further than the chaotic Sodom-esque blitz that is “Visceral Weakness” or the machine gun mosher “Blasphemous Conjuring” (the title says it all). Hell, the nasty “Mistress of Death” even borders on prime Venom territory, which is always a welcome comparison in my book. Closing it all out is the ultra-metallic “Death Blow”, that ever so rabidly blurs the lines between early death and black metal, with a healthy dose of unholy crust to boot.
Lying somewhere between primal crust, first wave black metal, and thrash in its glory days is Vicious Blade, and they sure make one hell of an entry with Relentless Force. It’s fast, ferocious, over the top, but most importantly, memorable. It doesn’t sound faceless amongst a glut of old school thrash and crust revivalists. No, it boasts a singular character and sound, which is all the more reason why I firmly believe this band has a bright (or rather dark) future ahead of them. Vicious Blade are only just beginning to wield their steel upon the metalpunk underground. Lord only knows how much sharper they’ll become with time, which is a terrifying prospect considering how powerful they are already.
8 out of 10
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Genre: Thrash Metal/Crust
For fans of: Sacrilege, Toxic Holocaust, Wraith
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