Reviewer: Chris

Hungarian goulash is good. Hungarian thrash metal is even better!

This recent resurgence in old-school thrash is fast becoming a habit. While most of it can be consumed in only small doses due to a lack of substance, Morbid Carnage’s Night Assassins is certainly a thrash album worthy of attention. From the opening note of “Warlust” the speedy thrash assault is a pulse-pounding trip back in time.

Looking at the webpage for these guys, they look like your average biker guys who hang out at the local dive bar in at the end of the block. They pronounce beer as one of their influences, and Sodom immediately springs to mind. There’s nothing like good ol’ fashioned drunken thrash metal. Hell, we Americans grew up on with the likes of Anthrax, Testament and Vio-Lence. True to the vein of those bands, Morbid Carnage delivers a pulverizing thirty-five minutes of relentless metal that causes visions of mosh pits and denim vests over leather jackets throughout.

After a split release with fellow Hungarians Concrete in 2008, the band issues its first full-length with some amazingly good musicianship. While not in line to dethrone Master of Puppets or The Legacy this album can certainly be hailed as a competent successor to the mid-eighties revolt for the modern era. While there are many good bands around these days with which to whet your appetite, few resonate as well as Morbid Carnage might. It’s no-nonsense, in-your-face thrashing around with vocals that don’t go over the top and music that doesn’t race itself for supremacy throughout. The music is surrounded with a good production certainly past its eighties counterparts, yet retaining the feel of the decade to a fine point.

Some of the standouts include “Funeral Pyre,” “Empty Graves,” and the title track, but the entire album as a whole is sound and easy to get into from the very first note. Old thrash metal has its very distinct sound, its own chemical make-up if you will, and the arithmetic for that is easy to duplicate, but hard as hell to advance within. As with anything, sometimes it’s just an easy fit and other times it’s best to walk away from the table relatively unscathed. Thrash metal is a formula most bands think they understand and end up as bad Testament or Coroner clones. It’s great to see these bands from the European sector dip their collective hands in this mix.

For a thrash trip that will keep you going throughout, giving Morbid Carnage a few spins would do a body good. Good music is coming out of Hungary again, so keep your ears open.

Release Date: 2010
Label: Pulverised Records

TRACK LISTING

1.  Warlust
2.  Slaughtering
3.  Funeral Pyre
4.  Empty Graves
5.  Deviant
6.  Castle In Pain
7.  Night Assassins

Total playing time:  36:21

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Morbid Carnage - Night Assassins

April 6, 2010