Vindicator
There Will Be Blood

January 2009
Released: 2008, Self-released
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

From South Amherst, Ohio, pushes through the bushes an 80´s-styled speed/thrash patrol named Vindicator (rising from the ashes of a progressive thrash metal band, Violent Night) who has been around since 2005. Vindicator have released only a couple of demos prior to their debut full-length album, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, which has now been released (self-financed) this year by the band itself.



What a listener gets on THERE WILL BE BLOOD, are 10 songs of a vintage sounding mixture of speed ´n´ thrash metal (plus, one surprisingly hilarious bonus track, the guys mimicking the sounds of guitar - what a crazy bunch of sickos, ha!) that truly pays a great homage to the eighties speed/thrash genre, borrowing a thing or two from both European as well as American thrash metal scenes - specifically from the glorious Bay Area scene. The members of Vindicator keep their things relatively simple, straight and raw when passionately churning out slices of speed and thrash metal on their debut, but that´s exactly what demands from one if you want to make your 80´s-styled thrash convincing enough sounding to the others. Vindicator sounds as old-school speed/thrash as it can get - and the whole album brings a lot of great memories from those days back to mind when thrash was every metalhead's favorite meal more than some twenty years ago.



Marshall Law´s screaming vocals added with aggressive riffing, well thought-out and nicely executed chorus parts, gang shouts, lots of attitude and metal spirit of the eighties and such things, all make this album a worthy listen - I mean, if you are a sucker of this particular style in question. The Vindicator camp really has succeeded in creating this familiar and safe 80´s vibe and spirit around their stuff - and those two things have obviously been that specific thing for these relentless horsemen of thrash that matters to them only, carried out well and in a somewhat rewarding way even on THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Good, ear-licking stuff here from these fellows.



The production leaves a few things to be hoped for though. Both drum and guitar sound are a bit too thin, but on the other hand, so many other speed/thrash albums of the 80´s weren´t THAT perfect production-wise either. Perhaps that´s one of the main tricks with THERE WILL BE BLOOD, too, why it does sound so much like recorded back in the day - who actually knows!



Nevertheless, THERE WILL BE BLOOD will be a nice addition to your personal collection of speed/thrash albums, so don´t even doubt about that. Comes with “Thrills for speed - kicks for thrash guaranteed” stamped all over it... ;o)