7th January 2022

Review: “Crush The Weak” by Drowning In Blood

A Thrash Metal power trio from Montréal Québec Canada comprising guitarist and vocalist Christophe Michaud, bassist and backing vocalist Félix Kemptner and drummer Noah Muller, Drowning In Blood are a fresh outfit who like nothing more than a snowball fight and a Johnny Cash cover…

…despite their respective youth the band demonstrate surprising maturity in musicanship with their debut EP, the Geiger counter at the start of the Metallica esq introduction to “Chernobyl” being an interesting touch before the the band tear into the breakneck riffs of a cut at the melodic end of the Thrash spectrum. It has some interesting crossover vibes to it with the woahs reminiscent of The Offspring in their finest moments while Michaud delivers a vocal performance that borders on feral at times and never afraid to mix up the tempo on a longer cut to build atmosphere. As Death infused Thrash Metal has come back around in full effect, it’s interesting to hear a band offering up a modern twist on the genre that isn’t as all out heavy, despite the imagery that they’ve chosen for their cover art. That’s not to say this isn’t a heavy record, it’s got plenty of satisfying crunch and venom spitting tendencies, especially in the vicious “Death of Democracy“. They may not have two guitarists but they make great use of layering in the mix to provide us with an abundance of divine leads to support their rip roaring rhythms and the extended solo of “Crush The Weak” is an absolute face melter, although how they’re going to carry them off in the live arena is yet to be seen. “Sunday Morning Coming Down” is a left field choice of cover but the band take an Anthrax route and make something of a joke out of it, the result being a beefed up meloncholic number that shows they can have fun with a drinking song and don’t need to take things too seriously [7.5/10]

Track listing