Blood Feast – The Future State of Wicked (Uhhhhh…)
I was totally about this album for some reason when I first saw the cover. The more I look at it, I’m not sure why. The more I listen to it I’m even more disgusted at my intuition. It is clearly wrong. Okay how many times have I said this next particular thing now? I don’t know, but here goes. I grew up right about in the middle of the original thrash wave, so I remember it. I remember finding discarded, unknown thrash CDs at random flea markets up through the late 90s. So I was floored by the bizarre obsession people had with the whole retro thrash wave that started to really gain steam about ten years ago, simply because it was typically so cut-and-dry it barely deserved even a moment’s notice. It looked old, it sounded old, it was just plain old old. Eventually thy jeans jacket runs out of patch space, you know? But there it is. Retro thrash. A tag that summarizes and reviews practically every album that falls under it over the past ten years. So here we have a band that dares name themselves after the legendary cult film that I shouldn’t have to link and will not link if you don’t already know it?
Yeah, Blood Feast. Now, these guys have been around since the late 1980s, so they’re thrash to the core. Down to the gray roots at this point, actually. Hey, that’s great. They actually split in the 1990s and then reformed in 2007, and this most recent sampling of their craft, The Future State of Wicked, their first full-length since 19forking89. Wow. So it’s interesting in that the band’s revival comes in the middle of the thrash revival, but what does it have to say? Honestly, not much. As far as thrash goes, this is quite standard. Some of the songs are arguably longer than they needed to be, simply because the build is thin. Blood Feast have a great grasp of the genre, and they don’t waste any of your time. The riffs catch easily and the drums have a great groove. The vocals, however, at times sound dated, simply because dude is older and he’s singing essentially the same way he was back in the 80s. Got to update, it’s the only way. It’s an interesting release in that it’s not retro thrash, it’s really just thrash, but because of that it doesn’t pressure itself to go anywhere else. The production may be better, the time different, but it’s largely the same band. As such, it’s a pass for sure, and it’s doubtful you won’t enjoy listening to it, but beyond that it’s, well, old.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Blood Feast: The Future State of Wicked
Hells Headbangers
3.6 / 5
