4th June 2022

Review: “Self Titled” by Trendkill Inc

Whenever anyone uses the term “Trendkill” it takes us straight back to 1996 and “The Great Southern Trendkill” by Pantera, an all time classic record that remains as vital today as it did 25 long years ago. It wouldn’t surprise us in the slightest if that is where San Paulo Brazil based Trendkill found their name as their hybrid blend of Traditional Heavy Metal influences with more modern Thrash Metal exploring everyday themes, social and even philosophical issues has the mucky finger marks of bands of that era all over it. Recorded at Studio Rec Station Produtora in Sao Paulo with production, mixing and mastering by Sandro “Murdok” Fernandes, Renan Momente and Tusa Mufaz, the cover art by Reknan Ranzoni their self titled debut even has the rattlesnake emblazoned upon it…

…sounding like the band are jamming in a dank dark basement hell in the early 80’s opening track “Trendkill” sets the pace with a rampaging extended solo that ignites the fretboard and leaves faces melted. Both the drums and bass are heavy in the mix and if it wasn’t for the accented vocals you could be forgiven for thinking you were listening to an Anthrax demo pre “Sound Of White Noise“. It sounds like the tracks were recorded at different times and put together later because while the drum and bass sound remains consistent over them, the rhythm guitars of “Sharpshooter” are big step up from the opening cut, solo aside. The tale is the ballad of Frank Castle aka The Punisher and is one that you can just picture Thomas Jane doing creating a path of destruction to. If you were thinking “Duality” would be a Slipknot cover then you’d be sorely mistaken, the San Paulo natives instead delivering something with a satisfying crunch that has some surprise unclean backing vocals for some gangchant moments that again throws down something different while not escaping the trappings of their core sound. There is fat to be trimmed on some of these tracks, the band often going a verse and chorus more than they need to where trimming would give them more punch and that’s something not helped by the vocal style, which is reminiscent of “Ignition” era Offspring. Finale “Shattered Life” has the best main riff of the record with that classic driving sound that rises from the black depths of the pre-Thrash era. Overall a good starting point that simply lacks some of the polish it needs to really stand out [6/10]

Track listing