Review: “RAD To The Bone” by RAD

Taking the original Crossover Skate Thrash sound pioneered by Suicidal Tendencies and building up its foundations with inspirations in classic 80’s Thrash and Hardcore are Brighton Natives RAD. For the past few years they’ve been burning the candle at both ends, playing shows not only in venues but also in skate parks while building their reputation for partaking in all things gnarly and bodacious while supporting the skater affiliated metal health charity ‘The Ben Raemers Foundation’.Recorded and mixed by Wayne Adams (Art of Burning Water, Cold In Berlin, Existence Dysphoria) at Bear Bites Horse Studio in London before being mastered by Stephen Samaneigo and adorned by artwork from Yarndog, “RAD To The Bone” is the follow up to last years well received EP “Toxic Slime“.

A blistering seventy eight second opening cut that might instantly make you think of Sylvester Stallone in Rambo “First Blood” sets the tone as an instrumental front loaded with bombastic bass from Warren Bennet and a couple of slick riffs that would take you all the way back to 80’s Los Angeles if it wasn’t for the satisfying crunch of the present day guitar tone. The mix is classically old school with the bass wonderfully prominent, something which shines through on the ripper that is “Dead Meat“, gang chants bolstering vocalist Andy Mansell’s gravelly harsh tones. Tempos shift with consummate ease on this angry anthem, the whammy bar drop perfectly placed as the quintet slide into the down tempo final moments before laying down a face melting old school solo.

“Point Break” continues the momentum with a fierce energy and playful guitars, a little melodic break and some classy leads helping drive the song forward before putting bounce in the mosh pit in the final third. Chris Barling of Inhuman Nature joins the party for “Cyberdyne Systems“, the track taking its name from the corporation that created Skynet in the original Terminator movie. Fittingly the lyrical narrative is all about humanity being enslaved by machines and inferior, something which feels like it could be on the horizon given smartphone addiction and the rise of AI. Sonically the track is another slick rhythmic pounding with old school qualities and modern sensibilities the band harnessing as much energy as possible as they play on our fears.

Why wait until the end of a song for a face melting solo when you can squeeze it in before the first verse? That’s exactly what RAD do with “Soundtrack To Slam” before following it up with another slap bang in the middle. Gang chants once more chemically enhance the neck snapping riffs and pulsating grooves so much so that you might find yourself getting involved without thinking about it on the first spin because its seriously good fun. They may share a title but “No Time To Bleed” isn’t a Suicide Silence cover but an original in rampaging Thrash as Mansell roars about laughing in the face of death while Kieran Stanley offers up an almost tribal mid cut drum pattern that is awesome. Don’t sleep on this, your ear drums will thank you later! [8/10]

Track Listing

1. First Blood
2. Dead Meat
3. Point Break
4. Cyberdyne Systems (ft. Chris Barling of Inhuman Nature)
5. Soundtrack To Slam
6. No Time To Bleed

“RAD To The Bone” by RAD is out 29th August 2026 and is available over at bandcamp