Album Review

Zenithal – Vendetta

• 25th Jun 2008

Twenty million years ago, in the 1980’s their existed a scene whereby metal and thrash acts recorded demo tapes of rehearsals , covers and songs which would then be passed and circulated around the scene, eventually making it over from America to Europe and vice versa-it was called tape-trading.

It started many bands career’s and was pivotal to the thrash movement-just ask Metallica.

Since the inception of the internet, the medium has changed but the same system exists; although now these ‘tapes’ have been replaced with files the same principle remains: good bands find their audiences.

Zenithal hark back to that old school, era. Unapologetically raw, ‘Vendetta’ is the beer and head banging staple that thrash and metal music is all about.

It would be wrong to leave Zenithal In the past, as there are some very strong modern elements here-but like most aspiring garage metal bands they start off in the no-mans land between Metallica and Slayer- fortunately they don’t stay there.

‘Vendetta’ doesn’t just take a leaf out of ‘Kill em all’s book it throws it into a machine marked ‘Grind’, and switches it on with ‘Spitting blood’.

Zenithal systematically attack you from the offset-openers ‘History writer’ and ‘Mad shadows’ have that punk rasp and thrash attack vocals that could have only come from youth spent listening to Slayer and Tom Arya.

It Zenithals willingness to mix and manipulate these old school ideas and plough forward into newer, heavier areas-as ‘Ghost in the machine’ proves- that make this a strong debut, that should be toured the life out of.

‘Vendetta’ is a battle, a constant assault with no respite, it’s a war they ultimately win, but like any conflict it’s not without some triage-in this case the collateral damage is quality as vocally it’s indistinct and buried in places whilst certain sharper guitar moments are blunted by awkward production; the vibe and energy are all intact however and really doesn’t spoil a thrashed out metal album by not only good musicians- who have done their homework- but genuine fans of the genre.