I Love It, I Love It Not, I Love It, I Love It Not...

I'm not particularly impressed by the '80s thrash revival that is currently happening in the metal scene. It is hard to say if this is because the bands aren't particularly good or because I grew up listening to the bands they are honoring (ripping off) and feel as if I wanted to hear '80s thrash, then I'll just listen to the original bands. Or perhaps it is a combination of both. That being said, there are a few thrash revival bands that I do find appealing for reasons that I cannot quite make clear to myself. I simply hear the music and enjoy it rather than cringe. Early Man and Evile are two of those bands and they coincidentally are touring together later this year. They have a third band on the tour with them called Bonded By Blood. Since their name is the title of the classic thrash metal album and debut by Exodus, there is really no second guessing what the band is going to sound like.

I heard Bonded By Blood for the first time today with the below song "Protoype: Death Machine" from their forthcoming album Exiled To Earth. As the song started, I was ready to dismiss them as the generic rip-offs I had guessed them to be. Then the vocals kicked in. Terrible. Definitely terrible. But sort of appealing just like Paul Baloff (Exodus), Steve Souza (Exodus), Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth (Overkill) and John Connelly (Nuclear Assault) who this singer no doubt idolizes. Then I found myself nodding my head and tapping my feet. Maybe I do like this? No, it is definitely terrible. But I want to hear it again. And once more. Maybe just two more times. I think I might like this. No, I don't. Yes, I kind of do. I don't know. I'm just going to keep listening until I figure it out.