ALBUM REVIEW: Circle of Darkness – Plague Years

In 2004, upset by the belief that the local town council were conspiring against him, Colorado resident Marvin Heemeyer went on a rampage with a specially modified armoured bulldozer, destroying property, public buildings and vehicles. Sixteen years later, Detroit thrashers PLAGUE YEARS have harnessed that same destruction and turned it into debut album Circle of Darkness, out now via eOne and the follow up to 2018’s crushing EP Unholy Infestation.

The beautiful thing about PLAGUE YEARS is that it doesn’t matter what era you prefer when it comes to thrash metal, they’ve got you covered. If you’re relatively new to the genre and want something in a similar vein to POWER TRIP, then the likes of the title track with its breakneck tempo and the explosive opening track Play The Victim will be right up your street. Exposed to thrash at the turn of the 90’s with OBITUARY and the early recordings of SEPULTURA? Look no further than Incantation and the groovalicious World In Blood, which chugs along quite beautifully. If your journey began even further back, well you’re in luck – Paradox of Death opens with what sounds like SLAYER covering For Whom the Bell Tolls and continues in a similar, thunderous vein for it’s duration, a song that will no doubt incite pits when the band can finally play live again; there’s also Evil One in that area too, a wicked throwback to a time that some believe has never been topped.

PLAGUE YEARS also show flashes of what could be following on future releases as well, along with an astute awareness of their craft at the time of recording. Eternal Fire drops the pace a couple of notches and combines it with some serious hardcore vocals from Tim Engelhardt, displaying the depth and aptitude to handle the crossover sound of bands like HATEBREED and MUNICIPAL WASTE with a minimum of fuss and showing they could easily branch out with the style more as their career progresses. As for their current abilities, closing track Urge To Kill is a wonderful melting pot of everything that has come before it on the album – a slow, ominous intro building into breakneck thrash before throwing a huge curveball into the mix with a monstrous breakdown that gets heavier with every single note before resuming the tempo right up until the final notes. The decision to fade the song out works in their favour as well – sometimes songs within this genre can be affected by not culminating in a final explosion of noise, but here it feels like the end of a television programme as the credits roll, a moment of finality that sticks a rather large bow on the top of an all-out sonic attack.

There’s nothing particularly ground-breaking involved in Circle of Darkness, but then there doesn’t need to be at this stage. All PLAGUE YEARS had to do was kick in the door of thrash metal and announce their arrival in the most bludgeoning way possible, and they’ve certainly done that. If they can consolidate this sound with a few more intricacies on their next record, we could be talking about them for a number of years to come.

Rating: 8/10

Circle of Darkness is out now via eOne.

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