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HOLYCIDE
Towards Idiocracy

Xtreem Music (2024)
Rating: 8/10

Madrid marauders Holycide have wiped away the COVID-19 pandemic cobwebs and returned with a third full-length studio album, Towards Idiocracy.

There’s been some changes in personnel since the band’s 2020 album Fist To Face, with original vocalist Dave Rotten and guitarist Salva Esteban (who was recruited in 2014) being joined by guitarist Ankor Ramírez and drummer Santiago “GoG” Arroyo, while founding guitarist Vicenta J. Payá (who departed in 2009) has returned on bass. Musically, the band hasn’t changed, but why should they? This is still the same aggressive music we heard during the days of the thrash resurgence back in 2013 when the combo released their No Escape demo.

The Spanish band kicks off their new campaign mocking the advancement in technology with ‘A.I. Supremacy’, which, despite its childish lyrics, is a potent assault boasting the recognizable sneers from Rotten as he yaps sarcastically, “Oh yes, how good technological are”. You need to look beyond the cheesy wordage and enjoy this album for what it is; a scathing and zipping attack brim full of acidic riffs.

The title track epitomises the bands fury, but also their eyes for melodious injections amidst the flurry of the drums. Holycide are far more serious in their thrash than given credit for, take for example the scowling menace of ‘Pleased To Be Deceived’, the serrated speed of ‘Remote Control’ and the massive metallic grooves of ‘Technophobia’. It’s quality thrash all round that for the most part is rapid in design, with standout track for me being ‘Lie Is The New Truth’ which fuses bursts of Slayer and classic Num Skull.

For those of you, like me, who have somewhat lost a bit of faith in the generic nature of the thrash spectrum, Holycide may provide the kick you need. They don’t do anything different but there’s a chemistry that understands the past while bringing in the new. Bands like Holycide are not the future, they are simply the slap in the face to make you aware of the present
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Neil Arnold

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