Ok, finishing the album, my thoughts:
Reborn Through Hate – sorta thrashy but not very, chord progressions are USPM, triplet USPM rhythms too
When Angels Die – similar case, the riffing is aggressive and has a speed/thrash pulse, but it’s played more like Fates Warning’s Orphan Gypsy than, say, Metallica’s Trapped Under Ice
Nosferatu – thrashier in that there’s more open-string palm-muted chugging, though it ultimately serves as a backdrop to a series of neoclassical leads; if this is thrash metal, so is Candlemass’ Into the Unfathomed Tower, and if any modern prog/neoclassical band covered this exact song, no one would call it thrash metal
Suicide Command – thrash metal, first song with a thrash beat and primarily thrash riffing
Spiral Dream – built on a USPM trot, if this is thrash metal so is Iron Maiden’s Transylvania
RIP – the main riff is basically built on that Children of the Grave/Four Horsemen rhythm; could this be called thrash? I guess, but when one of your album’s thrashiest songs is as thrashy as a 1983 album’s least thrashy songs, you know there’s not much thrash
Coma – one of the most chuggy, but entirely as a vehicle for neoclassical scale runs and power metal double-bass drumming
Fried Alive – one of the most mixed songs, some parts similar to Reborn Through Hate and When Angels Die in that they’re too dependent on 80s Maiden/USPM chord progressions, but there are some skank beats and heavier bits too, and the main riff has that sort of thrash-rock groove of 90s Coroner, borderline thrash at best
Totentanz – thrash metal, basically a neoclassical Battery
So about two definite thrash metal songs, a handful more with partial thrash ideas, and a bunch lacking even a note of thrash metal. Overall, if RYM knew what it was doing, this would have a power/neoclassical metal primary and heavy/thrash metal secondary. Certainly not a thrash metal album.
do yiu ever take a break?
