Punishment 18 Records' ringleaders seem to love old school thrash metal, and now Endovein, these youngish fellas from Turin present their debut album 'Waiting for Disaster'. Yes, Endovein are influence by 80's thrash metal. And Benny Hill.

Endovein mix serious subject (e.g. nuclear waste, religions, racism) and humour (among others, Benny Hill). They do it at both, the music and the lyrics. In the middle of bad-ass thrashing guys can suddenly jump into something different, for example The Benny Hill Show theme tune. Yep, results can sound very misplaced at times. Endovein can be called as cross over thrashers, because there is a clear punk influence going on every now and then. Any of the songs is not strictly in vein of any classic band, but there are loads of influences that a listener should identify. This is filed with breaks and tempo changes. Nuclear Assault, Testament, Tankard, Death Angel... These are the first four names floating in my brains when spinning this album. However, the music isn't too contagious for a big part, it's more like a rhythmic thing.

The vocals are nasty. But in a wrong way for me. They are pretty high pitched, but can climb into helium-levels. My ears bleed... The more actual problem with the vocals is that, that they are shaky as heck. Another crap thing about the album is the lame guitar sound; it does not bite at all. It is simply toothless. Overally the production is totally in vein of 80's.

The band might kick ass live, but do not manage to do it very seriously on this recording. Humour is also a double-edged sword. Everybody doesn't love Benny Hill, right? 'Waiting for Disaster' does work as background music while drinking beer like a pussycat, but its drawbacks maim it quite heavily for me. I still can give it a spin every now and then, though.

Rating: 6 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
08/17/2010 19:58