Was this thing unearthed after a few decades, thanks to a metal detector going totally bonkers? Why this question? Because it carries a flying, pointy logo and excellent painting depicting a horrifying moment, and it looks... you know, old school!

Italian Ireful sound beautifully archaic, too, even though the truth is that they've been around since 2019, so this is not an ancient relic. Their debut release 'The Walls of Madness' is an EP with five songs, ranging from under 2 minutes to 6 minutes in duration. Thrash metal made in the way of the 1980's is Ireful's craft. They handle it very bloody well.

Immediately when hearing Ireful, quite a few bands' names came into view of my mind's eye: But let's stick with letter "D" because Deceased was the first one, and later, Dark Angel and Deathrow (but yeah, you hear so much links to old thrash band here...). Ireful carry horror vibe, as depicted on the cover. They might not be as fast as those aforementioned bands at their fastest, but this has its insanely fast neck-breaking moments, as well as slower moodier moments. The riffs can be highly exhilarating at their best, and while there are some not too hot ones, the memorable if speedy guitar leads and soloing saves a lot. The band offer many riffing styles, as well as variety of drum beats, but then again, it never goes outside thrash metal's boundaries. Add Souza-cum-Baloff (Exodus, that is) style vocals delivery in, and this makes one cool old style thrash experience, made in the 21st century. The song titles are telling, that horrors of warring and sick minds are on offer.

The production is old-style, with booming drums and bass guitar, and sharp and hefty guitars (you can hear finger screeching the string, love it!). The vocals are somewhat reverbing, other things not quite as much. It is made with skill and style, like the whole thing: Keep it in the past...

The Japanese version includes 2 bonus tracks (a live one and Tankard cover 'Zombie Attack'; curious about the latter, for sure). The cover should look magnificent on 12" vinyl edition. But of course it is the most important thing to hear the band's own studio stuff, and it does not fail.

Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/22/2021 20:50