North Carolina's Suppressive Fire are back with their sophomore outing and from what I've heard, there's nothing really wrong with it. We're getting a very solid offering of black and thrash metal that feels raw, dirty and truly authentic. I'd definitely recommend it to fans of acts like Toxic Holocaust and Goatwhore. The vocals come off with a menacing snarl, coupled with malicious drumming and screaming guitar solos – loads of them. Maybe at sometimes it can feel a little muddy, but that's to be expected with this approach. I'm just glad that some melodies are given a chance to shine here, and that the man behind the kit decided to do much more than simply give us blast beats, of which he never really offers on this album and I'm thankful for it. Suppressive Fire sound more like an angry thrash band, rather than a black/thrash act and they seem to put more grit and grime into their approach than a lot of the thrash acts out there who are merely looking to copy the legends over and over again. There's a little bit of Testament, Overkill, Anthrax, Exodus and Sarcofago to be found within this one which will make it a worth offering for any thrash fan.
Unfortunately, what you see is what you get here and there are no real prog elements or melodic interludes to be found. Though is that really such a bad thing in retrospect? When I pick up an album from a band that mixes the raw grit of black metal in with thundering thrash, I'm more or less ready to accept that package, even if that comes live. I saw Goatwhore for the first time around the end of last year, and they delivered pretty much the same performance that I feel Suppressive Fire will offer on the stage too. Only difference is that there will be far more guitar shredding on this one than I think I've heard from practically any Goatwhore record, and far less blast beats. Though similar, Suppressive Fire have taken more of a thrash approach than their peers and I feel that will be much more appreciated by the thrash community than the black metal hordes out there.
Regardless, I feel that Nature Of War is a record for metalheads. It's just plain metal for fans who love it. I don't feel that anyone is going to have a problem with it, nor do I think it'll be the best album of the year. I do feel that it's a band doing exactly what they should do, and exactly what they want to do. So definitely grab a cpy of the disc and go seem them live, where this music truly thrives.
(8 Tracks, 39:00)
7/10
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