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STRIDENT
Paranoia Of The Tyrant

Self-released (2023)
Rating: 8/10

Straddling the line between contemporary crunch and vintage Anthrax chugging, Israeli act Strident delivers its more than steady third full-length album, Paranoia Of The Tyrant.

Equipped with enough serrated edges to administer a plethora of paper cuts, these guys have found a healthy mix of the catchy and the aggressive in what is essentially a pure thrash metal outing. Meaty vocals, wild solos, dashes of speed and a general air of chunkiness results in a real grower of a record that I’ve found myself spinning more than a handful of times.

Opening song ‘Hard-Bitten’ is the track you’ll find impossible not to headbang along too. Although guitarist Michael Shliapochny has been around since Strident’s inception in 2004, I’m glad he took over vocal duties last year. His style is somewhat wholesome, chomping at the bit like Rob Flynn in the early days of Machine Head or a young Chuck Billy.

Flashes of Testament filter in as the riffs drizzle with a technicality. The title track is a real monster, one moment fast but then shifting to an infectious mid-tempo design. Naturally a track entitled ‘War’ is aggressive and belligerent with its fury, where drummer Andrey Galchevski comes into his own with his flurries.

Galchevski is also significantly potent on ‘Incarnated’, another feisty encounter, and again takes the lead on ‘Under My Flag’, his precise sticks so clear in the eardrums that one ends up separating his bashing from the rest just to focus on such hardened kicks and slaps. The track then provides a killer chug before slipping into a D.R.I. crossover whip circa 1988. Again, there is that moreish feel, which also occurs with closer ‘Deal With The Beast’ and the frenzied ‘End It’.

If there is one record out there to finally prove to the fan boys that Metallica is no longer a thrash act then it’s Paranoia Of The Tyrant, a somewhat homely and comforting slice of partly nostalgic juggernaut riffing coupled with something intensely modern yet rewarding. Just listen to the slathering gem ‘Today Is On Display’ for the true sound of thrash. A very good album indeed.

Neil Arnold

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