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1.  Intoxication 101
2.  Alcoholator
3.  Catastrophic Violence
4.  Abduction
5.  Pounding Metal (Exciter Cover)
6.  The Chamber
7.  Liquid Thrash
8 .  Drink Beer... Or Die Trying
9.  Break The Wall
10.  Wasted (All The Time)

Total playing time:  35:07

Release Date: October, 2011
Label: EBM Records

Alcoholator - Coma

Reviewer: Chris

October 29, 2011

Canadian thrashers Alcoholator is back with its first full-length by way of Coma, a serendipitous venture into the old-school thrash metal bible that seems to have fallen into the hands of many an upstart band these days, though with a few hundred pages disturbingly omitted. Happily Alcoholator has the full, unabridged version at the ready.

Calling upon the influences of such legendary units like Destruction, Exciter, Razor, Exodus and some fringe Sodom and Tankard, the band manages to pick up right where the demo Drunker than Thou left off last year. The demo had some tracks that, while heavy and unrelenting thrash, were also on the less-serious side of the spectrum, a welcome change to the oh-so-serious approach to the music these days. I admit to subscribing to the overly serious metal side as well, but a nice break in the line is always a plus when done correctly. For this full-length the humor is still there in songs like “Drink Beer…or Die Trying” and “Wasted (All the Time)”, but there’s no mistaking the potency of the intended foray here when you hear “Abduction” or “Break the Wall”; The fast, yet paced riffs throughout this record are what set Alcoholator apart from the thousand of ‘nu-thrash’ bands popping up to cash in on the resurgence of the genre. This is precisely what thrash metal should and could be if the honesty and direction were carefully implemented in the initial recordings of other less interesting bands. The Exciter cover of “Pounding Metal” is one of the best Exciter covers I’ve ever heard; justice was certainly done to the fellow countrymen’s anthem. The vocals are very reminiscent of Schmier’s screech in select spots, but overall the style is throaty, fist-pumping relevance that sort of glides over the music. The band brings a strong, yet familiar brand of metal to the table, but while you may get tired of the milieu of today rehashing the same tired Metallica-like gallop and down-picking solemnity, you’ll find Alcoholator a band reminiscent of a period long past but newly reborn.

When you see the initial titles and casual attitude of these guys you immediately think of just another drunken group of guys making metal music…and that’s exactly what you get! However, add to that a strong message of musical integrity and a crisp production and you get a band like Alcoholator that spits in the face of derivativeness and carves a small, assuming niche for itself in the annals of Canadian thrash history. This is a fun band that disseminates its fast-and-furious message across the wastelands, ingesting and progressing at an alarmingly concise rate of speed, causing more than causal ripples in the vastness that is the metal music gene pool. I was really impressed with the demo and this album proves I was in no way presumptuous to or blinded by these serious fellows who, by all accounts, know how to have a good time and drag you into the party they create by merely battering the simple air with sounds of galloping fury posing as three-and-four-minute caustic ditties.   

It’s nice to see these guys follow up a really good demo tape with some seriously resounding heavy metal that they are more than capable of producing. There’s hope for the future after all, eh?