There must be some good beer in Southern German! You can hear it in Repent's sound. No, there's no sloppy playing, it doesn't sound like a damaged beer-gut nor is it Tankard style beer glorification, but 'Disciple of Decline' is one of the most in-yer-face thrash metal album of the 21st century! You just can hear it man, that there must be some tasty beer down there...

However, sonically Repent have been certainly influenced by North American thrashing, more precisely Bay Area thrash (the band declare that they are incluenced by Slayer, Exodus, Sacred Reich and Forbidden among other 1980s US acts). Quite rarely utilized guitar harmonies remind me of Testament. 'World Supremacy' on the other hand, sounds 100% German, as do most of the melodies. Are Repent unique? No, of course not! But they do it with style. These guys aren't after money, they simply want to keep this ancient art of thrashing alive. I'm more than happy that Repent go for this stuff, since all this deathrash and blackened thrash seem to be "trendy", whici is done too much by too many bad bands. Even some namedropping, Repent don't sound like those bands, no, definitely not! There's good variation between all-out-attack and building that oppressive mood. 'Anarchy', however, is a bit too different, being a punky crossover song. The platter is a bit short, but then there's always more time to listen it again and again, heh.

Soundwise this destroys!!! I mean this sounds perfect; fucking heavy, drums and bass are pounding, guitars are ripping, but all in perfect unison. Shouty vocals sounded monotonous at first, but there's some slight mood changes in them. No HC-shouting, but pure thrash anger. Of course, as any self-respecting thrash band must have, there's shout choir. What sucks is the artwork and layout, but just crank up that volume and you'll forget that pretty soon believe me.

If you're itching for your daily dose of good ol' thrash metal, mainly Bay Area style, pick up Repent's 'Disciple of Decline'. You'll get your dose right here! Now do that circle pit!!!

Rating: 8- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/06/2006 13:46