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SPEEDEMON
First Blood EP

Self-released (2015)
Rating: 7/10

The latest bunch of metal marauders keen to revisit the old school metal sound is Portuguese thrashers Speedemon, and what an enjoyable four-track romp this is.

Speedemon are a relatively new band which formed in 2011 out of Vila Franca de Xira. They are fronted by Bruno Brutus whose moniker sounds as if he’d be better suited to wrestling, but thankfully his vocal chops live up to that rather muscular-sounding name. Brutus also plays guitar and is joined by Jorge Bicho (guitar) and Rui Marujo (bass), while drum duties on the EP are shared by former member Alex Branco and session skin beater Luis Meco (Blackallica, In Chaos). Since recording the EP, Speedemon have recruited a new drummer in Hugo Pote (Dawn Of Ruin, Corman, ex-Undersave).

And so what we have from this fierce combo is a rather energetic EP that takes traditional galloping metal from the early-to-mid 80s and speeds it up with high octane doses of thrash and hints of contemporary gloss. But it’s still very much an old school sounding opus with ‘Feeding The Storm’ kicking off things nicely as a frenzied metallic stomp that evolves into a Slayer-esque thrash assault, yet which is punctuated by some glimmering melody.

Bruno Brutus’ vocals are a simple, no frills half-growl, half bulldog-chewing-a-wasp rant, but it makes for good fun and what I really like about this track and the EP in general is the serious nature of it all. Rather than being prone to humour, Speedemon live up to their name by churning out catchy yet fast and furious thrash metal, and it makes such a change to hear a vocal that is more grunt rather than the usual thrash tomfoolery yelp.

‘Messenger Of God’ follows suit, and in fact a similar path as another hell-bent for leather speed-ball featuring hyper bass tickles, hasty drum sprints and a formulaic but joyous guitar tone that keeps the track driving hard and fast. It’s very much thrash metal from the mid-80s, slightly echoed in the vocal to give that cavernous effect and you know that there’s nowhere for this track to go except straight into a brick wall. But Speedemon have the energy to suggest that they’ll just hammer straight through that barricade until they are out of gas.

The track incorporates some nice mid-tempo melodies before ‘Blood Runs Cold’ comes rushing out of the blocks offering the same speedy momentum and you start to be thankful that there are only four tracks, because any more and I’m sure the tunes would start to melt into one another with no real identity.

However, you can’t argue with a fistful of thrashing tracks that end with ‘Road To Madness’ which pretty much starts as the band no doubt aims to continue – no frills, pacey speed metal taking the best bits from the 80s and channelling through to the modern day.

Whether this sound is enough to gain Speedemon worldwide attention I’m unsure, but when one hears the energy here there are times when you just need to stop analysing and jump into the pit.

Neil Arnold

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