Reviews Cumming In

[T999]

"LIVE FOR METAL ZINE" REVIEW ON "HELLISH METAL DOMINATE"

Well slap my ass and call me Sally, if this aint some primo Black Thrash right here! Now, whenever I smell the word "retro", I'm immediately sceptical of the results. Moreover, I've also never been partial to Greek acts for some reason. Don't ask me why, I've just always ended up disappointed with most Greek bands (Varathron excluded). Drunkard (not to be confused with Germany's Kings of Beer, Tankard), however, are the real deal. "Hellish Metal Dominate" is a release that is full of metal, leather, and hell. It has all the right elements to fuel any thrashaholic's keg party for days on end, with tons of passion, energy, and aggression. This album isn't a Destruction rip off, or a Slayer parody, or an altar of Venom worship. Rather, it is an amalgam of all of the aspects which make Thrash Metal so fucking great. You can hear the influences from all of the legendary metal acts both Stateside and overseas, yet the whole affair ties together with Drunkard's own charming take on things. The album opens with one hell of a song, the hilariously titled "Drunk With Satan". I'll admit, at first I was again sceptical. I thought to myself, "ok, this is some decent thrash, let's see what they do with it..." Then, my friends, Drunkard proceeded to BREAK IT DOWN, old school style, with a great Bay Area styled circle pit riff right in the middle which made me mosh in my seat with great and glorious glee. That's the coolest thing about Drunkard. You can tell right off the bat that they love EVERYTHING about thrash, and they're not afraid to show that they can rock Exodus right next to Sodom, and it sounds perfectly natural. A song like "Thrashing Vein" (after the speedfreak introduction of "Ride Thru Hell") possesses this same feeling. From then on, it's just a matter of sitting back and letting "Hellish Metal Dominate" take you on it's whirlwind ride straight into the depths. I'm so glad that a band like Drunkard has come around. The songwriting is strong, the vocals are brutal, the music is catchy, and the sound quality is just raw enough to bring back the feeling you had when you first began purchasing those old Thrash Metal tapes back in the day. "Hellish Metal Dominate" is an album that I can highly recommend to just about anyone; whether your only into oldschool metal like Venom, Exodus, and Kreator, or if you also hold appreciation for fellow new school thrashers like Aura Noir, Gehennah, or Hypnosia, it doesn't matter: I feel that everyone can understand where Drunkard is coming from. From "Drunk With Satan", to "Spiked Fist", "Sell Your Soul", and everything in between, this is one hell of an album. Track this fucker down and thrash your brains out! Cheers!!!
-- Metal George
http://www.live4metal.com/reviews-220.htm

 

[Jean-Pierre]

I wrote a review of you guys' album on Metal Archives:

http://www.metal-archives.com/review.php?id=57801

 

[T999]

check out this review (lords of metal)
http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=4831&lang=en


"Marco: Drunkard is the kind of band one encounters very often the last few years: thrash metal the German way, with hoarse and screaming vocals. And when saying so, I say it all really.
This Greek band was founded in 1999, and from the bio I'm getting quite a decent picture concerning their approach to their own music, "It is worth saying that the songs were rehearsed only 3-4 times before recorded in the studio". A fact that is showing, gentlemen! Because although the band members know how to handle their instruments, there's absolutely nothing on this CD that's worth mentioning. Standardized, boring, endlessly repeating riffs and song writing reduced to its' very minimum are bad enough, but to call yourself "non-retro" and "fresh" isn't exactly helping things either. Because it IS retro, it IS as fresh as a long-gone rat under de stairs, it's superfluous, it's way beyond the boundaries of boredom and it's r.e.d.u.n.d.a.n.t.

It's not the first time when hearing this kind of muck that I have to think about vinyl. Vinyl grooved with the sound of bands who did this kind of music much earlier and way, way better. And those records still sound fresh. Yep, those do. To put is very, very short: redundancy galore. It's really a blessing I needed a new Frisbee."

Thumbs down: 35/100 (details)"

Funny how diverse these "webzine" reviews can be. I wouldn't post it normally but it is the first negative review that this band has received and it is somewhat historical. anyone that gives a fuck?
make my day

 

[Jean-Pierre]

I was having a discussion about that review with a friend, we agreed that it's pretty much baseless.

 

[T999]

I was having a discussion about that review with a friend, we agreed that it's pretty much baseless.

i don't know if it's baseless or not (well, not for me to decide anyway) yet these guys gave something like a 55 or 60 (dont really remember) for our old promo 2003 (pretty much 2 songs from the "hellish metal dominate" album with worse sound). By seeing the whole album being fucked upon this way, you can't really say that they are either serious or that they have the slightest idea of what they are doing. These contradictions are a pain in the ass but then again i couldn't give the slightest fuck. Note that this guy also did a thy flesh review (our other band) and he also fucked that up, the first mediocre review ever for that demo too.

 

[skeptik]

I'd just like to mention that that same faggot gave Violent Revolution an 85%, which is pretty much bullshit if he rates Hellish Metal Dominate a mere 35. Outright bullshit.

 

[T999]

I'd just like to mention that that same faggot gave Violent Revolution an 85%, which is pretty much bullshit if he rates Hellish Metal Dominate a mere 35. Outright bullshit.

i agree. it is also funny that he didnt mention ONE thing about the basic good elements of both drunkard and thy flesh. The sound quality and production is well-done for a self financed band. I also saw some of their reviews to other greek bands - especially demos - and i was laughing all night yesterday. I believe there is something "fishy" going on with this zine - none of the reviews i read make any sence. It is a good laugh though (something of an ancient Greek tragedy more likely - but still funny as hell)
T999

 

[T999]

here's one from terrorizer UK. as much as i have lost faith in the value of reviews, it feels good when someone "this famous"" acknowledges your music. it makes all other assholes look like lakes of vomit.

"DRUNKARD
'Hellish Metal Dominate'
BLACKMETAL.COM
It's all to easy to look at the alcoholic slant ala Tankard and turn
the page but this Greek trio are far from uncaring about what they
do. They may very well be "a bunch of alcoholics" but to say
that they sound as pissed, sloppy and unserious as their name might
imply is a falsehood, as what is on offer here is frantic, serious and above all focused rage.
The likes of 'Sequel To Blasphemy' or 'War Unleashed' positively reek
of Germanic thrash; the riffing, the ever so slightly off-kilter
drumming, the barked choruses are all present and correct. But far
from being a carbon copy in the vein of Guillotine, say, Drunkard
have stamped their own personal mark on the assaults herein to let
them stand on their own two feet.
[7]"

 

[Rafal]

After a few personal problems that disturbed my life, I have finally sorted out a review of your album. It will appear on Global Domination soon enough.

/Raff

 

[Rafal]

Drunkard: Hellish metal dominate
Review by: Rafal

"Handle with care - exploding hell inside!" - this great blurb should have been printed on the cover of the "Hellish Metal Dominate" CD so as not to fall into the wrong hands. Fuck me sideways if I'm babbling nonsensical rubbish, but what that album has done to my ears is beyond rational explanation.

I always had the opinion that everything was said in thrash metal - every riff and solo has been played, every melody has been created, and the sentence "thrash till death" makes no sense nowdays. But I qucikly kicked myself in butt after having heard Drunkard's debut effort, which in quite a short period of time has become one of my absolute favourite releases of 2004.

Drunkard are a gang of drunken pigs hailing from the cradle of all cultures - Greece - and despite their origin they don't play dark/black metal that the Greek scene is renowned for. Their sound is a completely different ketle of fish. Deeply rooted in thrash metal, Drunkard inject a pure dose of hell into the blood circulation, evoking a cancer that gnaws at the heart and lungs. Intelligently mixed elements of sharp guitars covered with a thin black metal cloak reflected in raw vocals, German-styled rhythms (in the vein of Gehennah, Kreator or Desaster) and lyrics full of alcoholic and war-like content to top it off. This piece of shit has everything that a good !metal! disc should have: groovy and catchy riffs, massive drums and raw yet quite clear production.

Making good music is one thing, but learning how to listen to it is another thing entirely. So if you do wanna listen to Drunkard with the full fun benefit of associating with the Devil himself, it is necessary to drink a few beers beforehand. And if you put your bullet belt away a few years ago, it's now high time you dusted it off and started worshipping The Horned One once again.

8 drunk Greeks out of 10

GLOBAL DOMINATION

 

[Nico]

Misfit, reviewer from Australia's HailMetal.com wrote a review for you guys the other day.

http://www.hailmetal.com/gate.html?name=MReviews&op=show&rid=148

 

[T999]

just saw your post, thanks a lot Rafal - we may use your punchline in the next album (no kidding)

 

[T999]

Review from www.maximummetal.com

Drunkard - Hellish Metal Dominate - 2004 - Blackmetal.com
It's taken a decade of black metal to resuscitate thrash. Dead and bloated since the early 90s due to it's own excesses - overtly technical songs, way too clean production values, and too many bands riding the coattails of the bay area bands for the chance of making a career out of it had basically neutered this genre in it's original form by the end of the 80s. The veteran bands all either broke up or lost the plot entirely, and many of the promising new acts realized they where whipping a dead horse and morphed into death metal.

It's took bands like Aura Noir, Desaster, Gehennah, and Nifelheim to remind us that thrash at it's rawest and most reckless is freakin' awesome. Fuck all the advances in technology: Kreator, Hellhammer, Slayer, Sodom, Merciless, Destruction - they all had it right on their first albums. Primitivism is a virtue, and "musical progression" is just a euphemism for getting old and
wimping out.

This is my first experience with Drunkard, who are a blackthrash band from Greece. Stylistically different from any of their countrymen I've heard, these guys have no patience for the subtle esoteric atmospherics that bands like Necromantia and Rotting Christ purvey. They are too busy obsessing with all things metal - booze, bulletbelts, and satan. The difference between the bands that pioneered this style in the 80s and a band like Drunkard is that the 80's bands were just trying to make a racket with very rudimentary musical skills - very "punk rock" in spirit. The bands of today are all better musicians technique-wise, and play this way by choice. So what you have here are bands that are creating forgeries of what their mentors created in the past, but in a way so remarkable that they've gained an
artistic merit of their own.

Sorry to get all prozak on you guys, as this band really doesn't need any deep intellectual analysis.This review could just as easily be summed up by saying: "Drunkard fucking kills. Buy this album, drink a lot of beer, and crank this up loud." Oh yeah..."Hail Satan!"