Review: “Lost Lives Volume 1” by Madrost

The Lost Lives Series is a retrospective of the band’s early career. Starting this series off, this long-forgotten era has officially been restored and is now ready to be shown to the public. This particular release showcases the band in October of 2009, just two years after they originally formed. Warts and all, the band was firing on all cylinders and were well on their way to becoming a much tighter machine. What you are hearing is just that and more. A band with nothing to lose and everything to gain in the years to follow. Stay tuned for more to come in this series as we document the energy of the very foundation that this band maintains even still to this day.” ~ guitarist and vocalist Tanner Poppit

Formed in the summer of 2007, Madrost are a Progressive Death Thrash quartet hailing from Southern California who cite a wider range of influences than most in Iron Maiden, Death and Mekong Delta in helping them envision their sound. Over the past fifteen years of total annihilation the band have churned out four full length albums and have hatched an evil plot to celebrate the past as they work on the present with a series of live recordings remastered for modern consumption. The first of these is a throwback to the band’s early days, featuring songs found on the band’s recently reissued full-length debut, “Maleficent”. The songs selected for this release were recorded during an October 2009 performance at Hogue Barmichael’s in Newport Beach, California and have been remastered by Rob Colwell of Bombworks Sound.

Tanner Poppitt: “How the fuck you people doing out there tonight? Everybody come to the front! Lets start a big circle pit! We’re Madrost! This song is called Desecrator!

Capturing the raw energy of their live performance like lightening in a bottle, Madrost rip through this set like a tornado destroying a small town, leaving no stone unturned and ensuring there is nothing but blood, sweat and spilled beer left in their wake. “Desecrator” gets things going with a high octane incendiary cut of classic Speed Thrash inspired by the golden age of the genre that no doubt set it off in the mosh pit and has a ripper of a solo. As with all live records, it lives and dies by the quality of the audio and while this one doesn’t have the best microphone configuration in the World it is far from a bootleg so what you get is solid and perfectly listenable. Vocalist and guitarist Tanner Poppitt is the only surviving member of the line up which took took to the stage that night and his introduction to the band before second cut “Aggressive Nihilism” serves as a reminder of just how good the “Maleficent” line up actually were as well as how much the bands sound has evolved since. The laser guided missile precision of the performance is sublime, as is the mastering job which has no doubt cleaned up the recording, all that is lacking is a couple of decent microphones in the audience to capture their reaction better before and after each song. The haunting introduction to “Crypt Keeper” is a momentary drop in energy, giving the audience a chance to breathe before the rampage continues at break neck pace before the bay area inspired riffs of “Good Ol’ Fashioned Violence” take hold. Another vicious little ditty it also has a face melting solo but it’s the lyrical narrative of the classic Pizza Thrash low budget horror “Zombie Grinder” that cracks the biggest of smiles. Up there with Municipal Waste, it’s one straight out of the comic book before “Under the Hammer” closes the set on a high. If you’re a fan of a live record like “Alive” from Snot or “Live At Summer Breeze” from Lionheart then this is up there with those as one of the better live records around [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Desecrator
2. Aggressive Nihilism
3. Crypt Keeper
4. Good Ol’ Fashioned Violence
5. Zombie Grinder
6. Under the Hammer

Lost Lives Volume 1” by Madrost is out 11th October 2022 via Lost Wisdom Records with pre-orders available via bandcamp.

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