Old

Nocturnal Ritual 7"

Undercover Records 2005

Germany has been spitting forth a slew of old school black thrash bands for awhile such as Desaster and Nocturnal.  The newest and one of the fiercest is Old.  This 7" kicks the teeth in of all these pretentious bands that have lost touch with their thrash roots.  No posing here, just some serious old school riffs and attitude.  Some have claimed they have a lot in common with Celtic Frost and Darkthrone but to tell you the truth I feel these influences are secondary to the extreme amount of thrash and a certain Bathory feel to most of the material.  Take the song Fire and Hate and listen to the vocal phrasing and riff impact when Oscar is shouting "Fire and Hate!" and you will understand what I mean.  When I say a Bathory feel though I do not mean how Darkthrone took Bathory's most black metal riffs and incorporated that through their own vision.  Instead I mean they took some of the most thrashy material such as the faster material from Under the Sign of the Black Mark and melded that into their own style.  The production is very thin and trebly which suits the guitars well, especially during the more driving songs such as the quiet break on the title track that smacks the listener in the face with a single guitar thrashing holocaust before the drums pound their way into your skull.  As a matter of fact I feel Old is at their most effective when they take a break for a split second before dashing madly into some skull freezing thrash!  Such is the case on my favorite song Fire and Hate.  Old is now signed to Darkthrone's label Tyrant Syndicate and you can definitely see what appealed to them about this band.  They have a lot in common with Aura Noir actually without sounding too much like them.  But they are definitely cut from the same mold of black metal tinged thrash with an old school as fuck attitude. Something this world desperately needs more of.  Sometimes I feel the underground has nothing more to offer and then a special gem like Old comes along and proves me wrong.  I will probably have a heart attack waiting for their debut full length due out later this year.  They are that good.