THRUST
Harvest Of Souls
Pure Steel (2018)
Rating: 9/10
|
|
I’ve been listening to a ton of Thrust lately. See, I put every record I listen to through a simple test. If it can rock my gym playlist whether I’m doing cardio or weights, it’s a keeper. And damn, the band’s latest album Harvest Of Souls is a gem. Now I’ve got it playing at work and in the car. Yes, this record is definitely a keeper.
Harvest Of Souls isn’t an album made by some new band that’s discovered denim and leather, and patching up their battle vest. No, Thrust is the real deal. They’ve been bangin’ heads since the early 80s and they’ve earned every accolade that comes their way. You wanna talk heavy metal then ya gotta talk Thrust, who were one of the first metal bands in Chicago before later relocating to Los Angeles.
In advance of its release date, this record is already getting big press because with Harvest Of Souls Thrust have created a metal masterpiece. And ‘Sorceress’, the first single, is without doubt the best song on this record and maybe the best classic metal track that anyone’s done in the last 20 years.
What I like about this record is that it showcases how far the band has matured in their songwriting, and evolved in their song composition as well. Every song is cohesive and tight, and hooks the listener immediately. Thrust have come a long way and Harvest Of Souls is the fruit of that labour, that journey that’s taken them from the early 80s into the second decade of the new millennium.
If you dug what the guys were doing with their last release, Reincarnation (an album originally recorded in 1989 but not issued until 2015), then you’ll really enjoy the direction they’re taking with Harvest Of Souls. I feel like Reincarnation was more straight ahead metal, which isn’t bad by any means, but this latest album seems like it picks up where the band’s 1984 Fist Held High left off, just a more refined effort. Where Fist Held High was a raw punch to the face, Harvest Of Souls takes it’s time kicking your ass from beginning to end of this record. And trust me, it does.
Not every song is a million miles an hour but every song is ten tons of metal waiting to crush your skull. This is a band that’s not afraid to take their time and build a song, or conversely, dive in and just rip it out with as much force and brutality they can deliver. The name of the game with this record is simply domination. It’s Thrust asserting itself and dominating the classic metal genre. And they do. They get it done.
Standout tracks for sure are the aforementioned ‘Sorceress’, and opener ‘Deceiver’ which just melts your face. ‘Feel The Pain’ and ‘End Of Time’ are pretty scorching as well. What clearly strikes me listening to these songs is that it isn’t the studio feel that you usually get from most records. Instead, there’s a live groove which whets the appetite to hear these songs performed in concert to fully grasp just how epic the material on this record is, and how talented Thrust is.
If classic metal is to continue making a comeback it’ll be because of bands like Thrust making killer records like Harvest Of Souls. This heavy slab of metal comes highly recommended.
Theron Moore
