Morbid Saint is a thrash metal band from the USA formed in 1984, enjoying a hiatus punctuated, a forty-year career in which the band have released three albums – ‘Spectrum Of Death’ (1990), ‘Destruction System’ (2015), and ‘Swallowed By Hell’ (2024).
Founded by guitarists Jay Visser and Jim Fergades during the mid-eighties thrash metal explosion, Morbid Saint came barrelling outta the blocks, blending elements of death and black metal into their out-and-out thrashy roots – a kind of blackened death come thrash metal you might say! And I do say, for the band’s new album is a full-throttle, high-velocity rampage of blistering speed and insane head bang ability! The band roar through the ten songs on offer in forty five ferocious minutes, the avalanche of thrash storming by like a force ten hurricane, fiercely flattening everything and everyone in its path! ‘Swallowed By Hell’ is very quickly into its stride courtesy of album opener ‘Rise From The Ashes’ – scorching the earth as it hurtles on by! The band are at high velocity here, roaring through ‘Rise From The Ashes’ with aggression, brutality and ferocity, every metalhead everywhere furiously banging their head hard! And in a futile attempt to keep pace with Morbid Saint, necks are in severe danger of snapping, such is the speed of ‘Rise From The Ashes’.
Speed which incredibly, is increased – the album storming on with the lightning-quick title song ‘Swallowed By Hell’. And when I say lightning quick – I mean blink and you’ll miss it quick! The band are savagely brutal, delivering an opening one-two to flatten even the most die hard of thrashers, the force oozing from ‘Swallowed By Hell’ (the song) much stronger than the Earth’s gravitational pull! A gravitational pull that’s gonna hold your attention tight, the album storming on with the blistering ‘Bloody Floors’, mosh pits all over the world turning into a frenzied mass of head banging maniacs. Morbid Saint are on fucking fire, roaring on with unrelenting savagery courtesy of ‘Burn Pit’, the ferocity level smashing right through the fucking roof! The meld of black, death and thrash metal is breath taking, the aggressive vocals more than a match to the aggression fuelled thrash steam rollering across the land. Morbid Saint are setting the early pace this year with regards to the best thrash album of the year, and possibly Album Of The Year too – the fast moving yet precise third album from the Wisconsin wonders blowing a great big fucking hole through the centre of the planet!
And with a mid tempo menacing stroll, ‘Fear Incarnate’ crawls in, exploding into life with immense force, Morbid Saint maintaining the phenomenal speed of the album with total aplomb! Thrash metal is all (well maybe not all) about aggression, brutality and ferocity – and for me, the more aggressive, brutal and ferocious the better! During my forty years plus of listening to metal in all its shapes, sizes and sounds, I’ve heard some really ferocious thrash – ‘Swallowed By Hell’ (the album) right up there with every one of them! To say this album has been nothing short of stunning since it began may be one of the biggest understatements of the year – Morbid Saint crafting some of the best out-and-out thrash I’ve heard for some time. The band don’t care about limits, speed or otherwise – but especially speed! For ‘Fuck Them All’ is the speediest song heard so far, smashing through the sound barrier with consummate ease, even beating light to the punch! Yes readers, ‘Fuck Them All’ is that fast, good luck keeping pace with the band in regards to banging your head! And in the shape of ‘Bleed Them Dry’, the album maintains its incredibly high level of head bang ability, Morbid Saint constantly changing gears here to offer an outpace with just a little mid-tempo stomping!
And as ‘Swallowed By Hell’ (the album) storms on, is anyone suffering a pain in the neck yet? For the cacophony of bone-snapping skull-crushing thrash metal is far from over – ‘Pine Tuxedo’ the next full-throttle assault! Full throttle as in high velocity, racing down the freeway at twice the legal speed limit – local enforcement officers giving up the chase as they know when they’re beaten! And the beat is what Morbid Saint are doing – beating every listener everywhere round the head with a barrage of savagery more fierce than all the hurricanes in history! Simply breathtaking stuff from the “elders” of thrash metal, showing all the young guns the killer instinct needed to succeed – ‘Killer Instinct’ powering on with just as much – if not more – aggression and ferocity as every other song heard so far! The band are ruthless in their approach to thrash, decimating towns and cities with immense ease to leave only desolation in their wake – the final song ‘Psychosis’ rounding off ‘Swallowed By Hell’ (the album) in glorious style! If that style’s full throttle thrash with tonnes of aggression – Morbid Saint roars through ‘Psychosis’ at the fastest pace of any song on offer. What an album! And what a band!
Overall, a blistering barrage of thrash metal full of ferocity, aggression and brutality, ‘Swallowed By Hell’ is head-banging heaven.
TRACKLIST
Rise From The Ashes
Swallowed By Hell
Bloody Floors
Burn Pit
Fear Incarnate
Fuck Them All
Bleed Them Dry
Pine Tuxedo
Killer Instinct
Psychosis
Morbid Saint: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: High Roller Records
Category: Album
Country: USA
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
