The German Battlecreek have been around since 2004. Having already released ‘Wake the Plague’ in 2011 and ‘Hate Injection’ in 2015. For their 20th anniversary, they are releasing ‘Maze of the Mind’, and for the first time in their career, it’s released on a label instead of independently. The album is divided into 12 tracks with a total running time of 46 minutes.
Battlecreek combines some aspects of teutonic thrash metal with a very heavy dose of bay area influence. Musically, the riffs remind me of things that could be written by bands like Testament, Heathen or Forbidden. As is to be expected with a thrash album, the opener ‘Implosion of the Sun’ can be firmly placed in the high tempo camp, but the next songs show no signs of slowing things down. The title track ‘Maze of the Minds’ shows particularly melodic riffs, yet without losing the razorsharp aggression and force we know from the German scene.
It’s only by track number 5, ‘The Cords of Death’ that we get a short break from the madness in the form of a short, mostly acoustic interlude. After that, it’s back to the races with ‘Thou shalt not kill’. For ‘Granville’s Hammer’, Battlecreek collaborated with Gama Bomb vocalist Philly Byrne. His quite distinctive vocals works very well with their music and is one of my personal highlights on the album.
The vocals are mostly clean, shouted vocals that are a bit too forward in the mix for me. I would have liked a bit more dynamic range throughout the album. Still, the quality of the music stands high and Battlecreek delivers one the of better thrash albums so far this year.
Score: 81/100
Label: MDD Records
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