Sanity's Rage - You Are What You Swallow

I remember when thrash was young and certain bands came along that added new dimensions to the genre. Once the 90s came, thrash bands seem to adopt more of a groove metal sound or they just went into other directions. But real thrash seem to fade away. Fast forward to 2012 and it seems that thrash is making a comeback. Sanity's Rage from Belgium have actually taken classic thrash and put a modern spin on it. They actually have been around since 2002 and their debut EP was released in 2006 and was rather well received by those who heard it. Their debut full length, You Are What You Swallow, sees a band really set into a formula that works well making for an enjoyable listen.

This band wears their influences on their sleeve as they can seem to, at any given time, remind me of several different thrash bands from yesteryear but still sound like themselves. The production is meaty and clean and is modern sounding but it seems to fit with the band's music. This band plays riff laden thrash that is just crushing. The opener, "The Madness Continues" opens up the album with some acoustics that seem to touch on Annihilator's "Crystal Ann." The title track kicks in and so do the riffs that are just monstrous while being able to keep melody in their music. The soloing on this album ranges from great to godly so if you like your thrash with good, well constructed solos then this is your band. The vocals are a bit on the Mille Petrozza side of thrash on some songs  but with enough of his own sound to not be. The true stars of this album is the riffing. "Aberration Mandatory" is just an example of how well this band can write fast paced songs with relentless riffing and incredible soloing. If this is the future of thrash, I'm fucking sold!

Keeping in the true thrash fashion, the lyrics on this album are mostly political and angry but not in a way that seems like they were trying to hard. They are believable. How can you not love a band that titles one of their songs "Thumbs up for the End of the World?" They also add just the right amount of groove to some of their songs to keep you interest and mix things up a bit on the album. "Product of Calamity" reminds me Kreator in the beginning and of Wratchchild America in the middle section as it grooves as well as crushes. But when they thrash they take no prisoners as their sound will remind you of German thrash while they throw in some Bay Area sounding stuff in there as well. The song lengths vary as some are in the three minute range but a few are over five minutes and one is as long as six minutes but they all seem to fit well together as the longer songs keep your attention while the shorter songs whip your ass quickly leaving you dazed and wondering what the fuck hit you! "The Wheels Keep Grinding" is that six minute song and is the example of how this band can be thrash but epic as well. This song is full of riffs as well as some complex time changes that it keeps you interested so they also do technical trash very well.

So here you have a thrash band that takes everything we ever loved about classic thrash and adds just a bit of a modern component to make this band interesting. I'm hoping that this band gets the recognition they deserve because I would like to hear more from this band.

8.5/10