“Let The World Burn” is the latest release from thrash legends, Vio-Lence, released March 3rd, 2022 on Metal Blade Records. Marching over to Metal-Archives.com, it also appears to be the newest material since 1993’s “Nothing To Gain”. You can say it’s been awhile.
Thrash Legends Mark Their Return
I have a confession to make: I have never listened to Vio-Lence before today. I have known their debut “Eternal Nightmare” is among the greatest of thrash albums, sitting at a happy 93% on Metal Archives. Well, my metal journey began in 1993-94 with Black Sabbath and Metallica. I quickly fell down the rabbit hole with death metal when I heard Morbid Angel’s “Blessed Are The Sick”, you could say my interests lie in something darker and heavier, so I ended up missing out on thrash almost entirely. Recently I have been going back listening to key releases and hidden gems of thrash, but Vio-Lence rarely came up. Maybe this was due to “Eternal Nightmare” being long out of print and finding an affordable copy was not easy1. Anyways, on with the review.
Impale The Fucking World
“Let The World Burn” is 5-track EP sitting at just under 25 minutes long, starting off with the track “Flesh From Bone”. This is nice, a catchy bass intro that builds up to the track’s main riff; you caught my attention. The lyrics convey the image seen on the cover art and in the band’s namesake, bodies impaled upon stakes and unfettered violence. We continue with the next track “Screaming Always”, this is standard, traditional thrash affair but not as memorable as the previous track. Not much to say.
“Upon Their Cross” is a slow chug, breaking the pace from the first two tracks; and the riff isn’t interesting at all. This is where I started to get worried that this EP was losing it’s steam. I enjoyed the guitar solo at the 3 minute mark, but lost me when they return to the slow and boring “chugg-a-lugga. “Gato Negro” picks up the pace again with a nice, mid-paced groove, building up to a short but sweet guitar solo. A mid-break spoken word in the title track “Let The World Burn”, reminds of the movie phone guy. It made me giggle, but I’m sure that was not their intention.
On first listen, I liked what I heard; wanting to hear more. However the more listened to it, the 5th time as I write this, that initial impression is beginning to change. There are a few glowing moments, but overall the EP is 25 minutes of average, by-the-numbers, thrash with a hint of groove.
“Let The World Burn” is not breaking any speed records; Dark Angel’s “Darkness Descends” is not a fair comparison, instead this EP falls in line along with Annihilator and modern era-Death Angel. It’s not melting your face with speed, their band of violence comes in their lyrical content, a strong rhythm section. As a whole, this EP falls a little flat for me. I may return to this once I hear more of Vio-Lence’s earlier releases.
In Conclusion
When Sdmetal guru Brian Parker asked me what I was going to review next, he listed off a few ideas, Vio-Lence being one of them. Having never listened to Vio-Lence before I decided to take this review as a “band introduction”. I got excited, I was going head first into brand new territory. My normal method to band introductions is to start at the beginning – or as close to the bands’ beginning as possible. This is so I can get a sense of the band’s chronological progression through their career. The downside to this is that it can influence perceptions of later releases due to biases developed from earlier favorites. “Eternal Nightmare” is highly regarded and it’s their full-length debut, it would be hard not to compare. Never having actually listened to this record, I therefore do not have a bias; I can go into “Let The World Burn” clean.
“Let The World Burn” acts as a way to test the waters; releasing this as an EP is a smart choice. If it succeeds, it serves as a warm-up to the next full length. Or if it fails, Vio-Lence will fade back to has-beens, never matching the success of their debut. In my opinion, “Let The World Burn” sits right in the middle, it’s ok. It’s not terrible or overly offensive to my taste, but it is not a significant achievement when comparing it to the rest of the thrash realm.
“Let The World Burn” being the first new material in almost 30 years, I can imagine expectations are high. My take-away is this: regardless of what I thought of “Let The World Burn”, I definitely need to check out “Eternal Nightmare” and discover why many hold this band in such high regard. Off to Discogs I go.
1I do not use streaming services and only download when I absolutely have to, the physical format (CDs or vinyl) is my priority. Recently have I been going to Bandcamp, but will do a digital download only when I have to. Even rarer is YouTube, so don’t tell me “just go to YouTube, you can listen to anything there”. Stop. The sound quality is terrible and does more to harm the sound than my uncle’s 40-year-old vinyl of Rush’s “Moving Pictures” that he listened to 3 times a day.
- Standout track: From 2:50 to 4:00 of “Upon Their Cross”.
- For fans of: Exodus, Forbidden, Anthrax, Sacred Reich, Death Angel.
My rating scale:
1 Star: STAY AWAY. Far away.
2 Stars: Major flaws but you gave it a chance. Destined for the bargain bin.
3 Stars: Overall, it’s ok despite some obvious flaws. Fanboys can get enjoyment out of it it but someone who is more critical may have an issue with it. Buy at a discount or while on sale.
4 Stars: Nearly perfect. A must listen and well suited to add to your collection.
5 Stars: BUY IT NOW, no questions asked. I don’t care if you don’t like [insert genre].
-Eric Reeder 3/5/22
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You can also find me on Twitter @TheIbexmoon where I occasionally hang out and discuss music, video games and anything else I find interesting.
While stuck in traffic, Luis and I listened to this E.P. this on Saturday. So much “chug-chug-chugga-chug”, amounting to nothing particularly interesting IMO.
I went into the E.P. from a whole other place than you did — I know “Eternal Nightmare” backwards and forwards, and saw Vio-lence live 4-5 times back in the day. But perhaps due to (or in spite of?) that extra “leg up” on having the 4-1-1 on the band in it’s hey-day, I’m confident in saying this would not have wow’ed me regardless of my awareness level of the band’s previous stuff. Nothing on this E.P. sticks in my head, and both Luis and I grew bored with some of the songs before they even hit the half way mark.
2/5 stars is the best I can do here.