Xentrix – ‘Bury The Pain’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Listenable Records/Thrash Metal
During the late 80’s and early 90’s, the early days of the Bay Area were long gone, major label signings and a generic thrash sound had been common and was starting to wane but releases such as ‘Shattered Existence’ and ‘For Whose Advantage’ from Xentrix showed the world that the U.K. was able to keep up with their American counterparts. Unfortunately, following two poorly received albums in the mid-90’s, Xentrix called it a day. The British thrashers returned to the scene in 2013, yet it has taken them the best part of seven years to gear themselves up for the release of their latest album ‘Bury The Pain’.
Straight away, ‘Bury The Pain’ is an album that shows Xentrix are back in the saddle and they are angry with plenty to say. This album may be nearly thirty years in the making, but it has the sound that makes it the perfect successor to the seminal ‘For Whose Advantage?’ As always, studio wizard Andy Sneap has done a fantastic job with the production, giving ‘Bury The Pain’ a dynamic modern thrash sound, but giving that undercurrent of the late 80’s and that makes this album exceptionally fun, enjoyable and above all familiar, coupled with an almost Ed Repka style album cover, this album could easily have been released in 1990 and therefore it is easy-listening for any fan of the genre. Tracks such as ‘There Will Be Consequences’, ‘The Red Must Descends’ and ‘Bleeding Out’ show that Xentrix have lost none of their bite with an album full of well-crafted foot-to-the-floor thrash metal that has all the likeability of modern Testament with the pace of Exodus. Furthermore, it is the track ‘Evil By Design’ which is most interesting, almost detached from the remainder of the album, this song has an Analog sound which shows that this song could easily have been recorded in 1983 under the warm, red glow of the studio light easily making it one of the highlights of the album.
For Xentrix, ‘Bury The Pain’ is a welcome return to the scene. However, this album should be celebrated, not just for being one of the most enjoyable thrash albums of the year so far, but also for being one of the band’s best. ‘Bury The Pain’ stands tall alongside ‘Shattered Existence’ and ‘For Whose Advantage?’ and maybe, just maybe, be the best album of their career.
Rating : 82/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
