RSS Feed


SHREDHEAD
Death is Righteous

Mighty Music (2015)
Rating: 7/10

Death Is Righteous is album number two from Israeli thrash merchants Shredhead, who are the sort of quartet it could be said have the perfect moniker to describe their pacey, bruising sound.

Having formed in 2009 as The New Order, they changed their name to Shredhead in 2011 and in August of the same year released the debut full-length composition Human Nature.

I never laid ears upon the debut, so I was eager to hear what these guys were all about. In part I was expecting a rather tiresome thrash metal affair, although I’m pleasantly surprised with this 11-track affair. I think, however, it’s best to get the negatives out of the way first. My main issue is that although this is a frantic, belligerent affair it is a tad generic at times and sounds like the sort of masculine, confrontational noise one would have expected to have heard from Pantera in the mid-90s.

Indeed, there is a lot of Pantera influence here, especially with some of the vocal melodies of Aharon Ragoza, and because I’m not a big fan of Phil Anselmo and crew then it’s no shock that at times I find this record to be a tad too bland and predictable. Having said that, the positives do outweigh the negatives in that through the bruising ferocity of this charging platter, Shredhead has the ability to write a number of infectious melodies. This becomes immediately apparent with the opening attack of ‘Devils Race’, which is as catchy as hell.

It’s very clear that Shredhead plays a pulverising style of groove metal built upon the churning guitar sound of Yotam Nagor, who for me is the real star of the thrash show here. Indeed, while so many bands of the mid-90s were looking for this sort of sound it’s not a style that has travelled well into the current climate, and maybe that’s why at times Death Is Righteous is so bloody refreshing. Through the likes of ‘LPBZ’ and the choppier raps of ‘The Lie’ there is a truly confrontational flavour as Roee Kahana hammers his drums like an eight-armed pro-wrestler bashing the heads of his opponents.

The album also offers up some extremely memorable mid-tempo moments too, and that’s where the riffs really come to the fore. I just wish they came more often because a majority of the album is taken up by those faster, aggressive strains, as with ‘Last Words Are Lost’ and the blunt assault of ‘Hallucinations’.

I do think it’s fair to say that Shredhead could be accused of having too many songs which run a similar course and that further injections of subtlety wouldn’t go amiss, but there’s always been a huge audience for this type of no nonsense clinical metal. However, by the time I’ve reached ‘Walk With The Dead’, I’m appreciating the overall bruising quality but slightly drained by the overload of those generic vocal bellows and blunt riffs. ‘Witness Hell’ does have that cool mix of lower tempo grooviness, although it’s all so bloody mid to late 90s in approach and for me, at that time, metal had become stale and all to streetwise. For attitude and downright antagonism though, Shredhead’s sophomore slice is certainly one to break out in a sweat to.

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share