Review: “Urge To Kill” by Raider (Fifth Anniversary)
Back in 2018 the debut of Canadian Death Thrash act Raider landed like a ship full of Vikings on the shores of Skull Island. Produced, engineered and mixed by Jonah Kay (Invicta, Razor) at HM Studios and Mastered by Zach Gerber (Monarch Woods, Bryce Clifford) at Skytrack Studios, it was the bands first stab in the dark at creating music together and has since been surpassed by the critically acclaimed pairing “Guardians Of The Fire” and “Trial By Chaos” while cementing the writing partnership of vocalist Angelo Bonaccorso and guitarist Gabe Rosa. So we head back to the start to check it out for a fifth anniversary review…
The one and only Raider record to feature guitarist Kyle Edissi and drummer Kevin Withers in combination (the later would exist stage left in 2021, the former in 2018), “Urge to Kill” gets the party started with the raw and punchy “Phlebotomized“. A cut which leans more on the Death Metal side vocally with vicious uncleans from the barbed tongue of Bonaccorso while having the now trade mark fretboard smoking incendiary solos of Rosa firmly in place, it’s a statement of intent from a band seeking the make their presence felt. The serial killing atmosphere of terror continues with “Nebulous” which drags the lake in search of rotting corpses and finds nothing but fragments of bone. There are hints at “Master Of Puppets” era Metallica influence in the mix, the bass having plenty of groove and the rhythm guitar work like wise but in truth its those leads and that soloing which elevates it from a basement dwelling underground monster to have the potential to be sweaty club filling beast. “Urge to Kill” redecorates the walls with blood, a slave to mortal sin which slices and dices its way through the urban jungle armed with the knife from the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece “Psycho“. The whammy bar action is tastefully done and while as a whole this may feel a little rough around the edges, it’s easy to see how it evolved into the two incredible records that the band have created since. Rader are a lethal dose of Canadian hatred that are here to take your soul [8/10]
Track Listing
- Phlebotomized
- Nebulous
- Urge to Kill
“Urge to Kill” by Raider is out now and available over at bandcamp.