Blood Tsunami - Blood All Over (demo)
Self released - 2004
By Philip Whitehouse
This three-track demo showcases the classic thrash metal stylings of triplet-wristed quartet
Blood Tsunami, to enjoyably intense effect. A raw-around-the-edges production serves to enhance rather than noticeably diminish the pleasingly chaotic riffage on display, giving rise to a strange sense of nostalgia for the enthusiasm-over-technique thrash metal heyday of the eighties. No surprise, then, that this is the period from which
Blood Tsunami seem to take their main point of reference -
Slayer-isms are impossible to avoid in this style of knockabout thrash, but rather than being copyists,
Blood Tsunami manage to throw in traces of early
Testament and
Kreator whilst still crafting interestingly diverse songs.
For instance, 'Let Blood Rain' sounds like a songtitle that could have been taken directly from
Seasons In The Abyss, but the raw-throated strangled vocals and straining-at-the-leash melodic lead guitar breaks enhance the full-tilt thrash on offer, whilst opener 'Killing Spree' builds from a fairly mid-tempo intro to syncopated stabs of guitar, drums and bass that evoke images of a bull stamping the ground before the inevitable charge - which comes in the form of a savagely spidery riff and avalanche-drum-roll before the hyperspeed riffage and drumming kick in fully.
While they're not breaking any particularly new ground,
Blood Tsunami have a lot to offer fans of tearaway 80s thrash, and anyone mourning the more melodic/death oriented direction of modern thrash will find much to enjoy within.
7/10
Blood Tsunami Official Website
