Untimely Demise
City Of Steel

November 2011
Released: 2011, Sonic Unyon
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: JP

Some fans and observers are complaining about a glut of retro-thrash bands. Not me! I’d rather have 1000 retro-thrash bands roaming the planet than one grunge band still polluting the world. So, Untimely Demise is the latest, greatest thrash (don’t need the term retro, thrash is thrash) band to enter the game. My colleague and friend Adrian Begrand introduced me to these guys last time I was in his hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and I bought their independent debut EP. Much to my delight other people had already recognized that this young trio has the talent to match the attitude and Sonic Unyon Metal picked up the late 2010, full-length debut for a quick reissue. Another heavy hitter in the Metal word that noticed this band is Glen Drover who produced the disc and jumped on board for some guitar solos too. Not a bad guy to have in your corner.



I’m glad this is more widely available because it’s a great little disc. I say ‘little’ not to be condescending, but it is only seven cuts for 32 minutes of thrash attack madness. It’s a nice package, cool logo, and the virtually mandatory Ed Repka cover portraying a Russian zombie vs. a German zombie (both in WWII uniforms) so I’m assuming the City Of Steel is either Saskatoon or perhaps more likely Stalingrad. We will call Saskatoon the City of Ice instead.



Sonically these guys, shred and kill. It’s fast, heavy, fun and the vo-kills of Matt Cuthbertson hit the sweet spot. The production is great, a really good guitar tone reminiscent of earlier Exodus perhaps. CITY OF STEEL is utterly loaded with solos which puts a smile on my face. The album is a quick smack upside the head, half an hour of fun (but still serious) Metal head-banging times, the perfect blend of pure, all-out thrashy speed and melody.



I swear in the next few years Canadian Metal is going to dominate the planet. Untimely Demise have quickly joined the ranks of Striker, Skullfist, and a handful of others as the bands to watch in 2012.