ALBUM REVIEW: Spectre Of Ruin – Black Fast

As far as aptly-named bands go, BLACK FAST may just take the cake for a sound that deals in equal parts shrieked Schuldiner-esque vocals and ripping thrash. With two records already under their belt gradually building them up to relative acclaim within the modern thrash scene, Spectre Of Ruin, their latest offering, sees them delve further into the progressive soundscapes they’ve flirted with in the past. But the real question is weather this translates to a good record overall.

This is a question that crops up alarmingly often over the 40 minute run-time of Spectre Of Ruin. The basic components of their previous records are there and that’s great because a modern thrash fan into bands like NERVOSA, HAVOK or WARBRINGER is going to be all over this band. As always with BLACK FAST, vocalist Aaron Akin is front-and-centre delivering a phenomenal vocal performance, effortlessly peeling out soulful shrieks and cries that link them to the vocals of the bands listed above.

However the crux of this is that there really isn’t very much changing up in the vocal department for Aaron to carry the overall performance. After the first few tracks it feels like the music is aching for a curve-ball and this is only exacerbated by the main issue with this record and that is that the musical backdrop is so similar from track to track to the point that if the vocals were taken out, the songs would be almost unidentifiable from one another. It’s a real misfortune for this to be said of a band with such an awesome sound and a strong collection of tracks built up already but on this album, literally every song starts in pretty much exactly the same way: A mid-paced drum track with even double-peddle work underpinning it and washing chords ringing out in contrast to the snapped-straight riff-work you might expect from this band.

And again, this is cool in the first few moments but begins to wear-thin over the record. Naturally there are a few standout tracks of a really good standard that lifts the record. This is particularly true of the three-track run of Silhouette Usurper, Scarecrow and Spectre and album highlight Phantom I Am. All these are tracks that’ll definitely cut the mustard live and maybe that’s enough. While Spectre Of Ruin generally isn’t in competition with the best stuff from their back-catalogue, there’s enough to make it more interesting on the road and that’s definitely where this band lives and where these songs will get their dues.

Rating: 6/10

Spectre of Ruin is out now via eOne.

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