Review: “Fortified with Ashes” by Chupacabra

Featuring in their ranks former members of Wytch, Cybervoid and Captive, “Fortified with Ashes” is the virgin sacrifice from new project Chupacabra, a debut EP from a Death Thrash enthusiast trio hailing from Bristol in the United Kingdom. They’ve already made their name having provided all the music for the new audiobook edition of DX Ferris’ best-selling Slayer biography, “Slayer 66 & 2/3: A Metal Band Biography, Postmortem Remastered Edition“, as well as the accompanying podcast, “Talkin’ Slayer: A Metal Podcast and Half-@ssed Audiobook” the later of which you can find over at Spotify…

Exploring issues of toxic relationships, female empowerment, social injustice and broken society, this trio of savage cuts isn’t one to be taken lightly but instead gives the discerning listener something to think about when their ears stop ringing from the vicious, rage fueled vocals of Heather Taylor. A musician with a spleen to vent, a finger to point and a barbed tongue, she doesn’t hold back in expressing her point of view even for a second here and is given the perfect hellscape of backing by multi instrumentalist Nige Savage and lead guitarist Alex Brent. The arteries are opened by “Burn The Clowns” which sounds like the bastard child of Slayer, Angela Gossow era Arch Enemy and Testament, rattling the bones with old School Death Thrash riffs galore and larynx threatening vocals. An overture of pure cathartic venom, it has a catchy hook and a scream-a-long chorus with the chants of “Forced down!” ones that will go down extremely well live. If that wasn’t enough of a demonstration of genre prowess, “F.T.T.D” (or “Final Time To Die”) opens up with a flamboyant old school solo before flying out of the gate like a dungeon whippet at the dog track. The tempo shifts are well executed giving the cut a great flow while the old School vibes have mass appeal and nostlagic value while not being cheesy or seen through rose tinted spectacles. The title track rounds out then fifteen minutes of mayhem and “Fortified with Ashes” doesn’t disappoint. An breakneck Speed Thrash affair it’s a headbangers delight that leaves us like Oliver Twist asking for more… [8/10]

Track Listing

1. Burn The Clowns
2. F.T.T.D.
3. Fortified with Ashes

“Fortified with Ashes” by Chupacabra is out 4th August 2023