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HIRAX
Immortal Legacy

Steamhammer (2014)
Rating: 9/10

Hirax; now here’s a cult thrash band if ever I saw / heard one! These guys have been around for seemingly aeons, beginning life back in the early 80s as L.A. Kaos before changing their name to Hirax. Hirax were responsible for some of thrash metal’s most fearsome records, including the scintillating debut Raging Violence (1985), which has to boast one of the strangest album covers in the history of the scene!

Although Hate, Fear And Power (1986) was a decent thrash assault, the band wouldn’t release another studio album until 2004 with The New Age Of Terror. That was then followed five years later by 2009’s El Rostro de la Muerte, which in my opinion wasn’t up to scratch. And so, after another five-year gap, we reach album number five for the Californian thrashers.

Of course, since that cult debut platter the band have suffered numerous lows with only vocalist Katon W. De Pena remaining from the original line-up. As with the last album, the frontman is joined by Lance Harrison on guitar, Harrison’s younger brother Steve on bass, and Jorge Iacobellis on drums. There are also guest contributions from guitarists Jim Durkin (Dark Angel), Juan Garcia (Agent Steel, Evildead) and Rocky George (Suicidal Tendencies, Fishbone).

Immortal Legacy features 12 tracks, two of these being instrumentals. The platter kicks off with the powerful charge of ‘Black Smoke’, which comes across as the bastard offspring of Exodus and Slayer in their prime. Katon W. De Pena’s vocals are intense as he punches his words in cohorts with the maniacal drums and explosive guitars, which chug along at a healthy pace. Immediately I’m energised, and feeling the electricity that the last record seemed bereft of. The track also boasts a killer mid-section of wailing sirens and doom-laden drums accompanied by another fearsome trudge. ‘Black Smoke’ is the perfect track to bring Hirax into 2014.

It’s followed by the superb ‘Hellion Rising’, which again has a whiff of Slayer about it in its menace, but is separated from those titans by Katon’s impressive choppy rasps. The frontman barks, “Masters will fall and slaves will rise, Immortal, he shakes the earth, Hellbringer of death and destruction, To the damned” in masterful fashion as the drums gather pace, bouncing in tandem with that shuddering bass. Hirax are a pure old school thrash act; their legendary cult status is confirmed by the guzzling menace of ‘Victims Of The Dead’, a short and sharp number where Katon shows his vocal diversity and the guitars paste the amour on thick.

Riff-wise Immortal Legacy is extremely weighty, and when they come the solos pierce the blackness like streaks of thrash metal lightning. Hirax have finally come to realise they are a true force, and have you ever read a better track title than ‘Thunder Roar, The Conquest, La Boca de la Bestia – The Mouth Of The Beast’, which features a snaking lead to start with before the drums come booming into the ears? Arguably the best track on the album, it builds its menace slowly before showcasing a classic thrash chug prior to Katon’s battle cry of “Hey!”

Immortal Legacy is the sort of thrash record that really spoils the listener, because there are so many good songs on it. Pluck any from a hat, and you’ll be enchanted, entertained. Above all, you’ll be enthralled by the thrashing mayhem of ‘Tied To The Gallows Pole’ which flirts with old school Metallica, while the title track just rains in its punches early with fierce drums and wild solos.

It’s no real shock that Hirax have somehow dragged that 80s style screaming into the modern; they have enlisted legendary producer Bill Metoyer in to twiddle the knobs, while the classy cover art is from Philip Lawvere – who was responsible those many decades ago for Kreator’s Pleasure To Kill cover (1986), among others. So, believe me, when you’ve got the best producer and classic cover art to match you just know that the sound within is going to be deadly. Hirax have come out fighting, forcing the likes of ‘Violence Of Action’ onto the listener, who will find themselves thrashing around in a saliva-soaked frenzy until the record finally decides to give up the ghost.

This is an important thrash metal album; one of the best over the last 20 years, and a record only rivalled so far by Hatriot’s efforts. Proof that speed still kills!

Neil Arnold

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