Angelus Apatrida – Cabaret De La Guillotine album review

The Riff: it’s the reason that you’re reading Hammer and the cornerstone of heavy metal music. Like the rest of us, Spanish thrash metal foursome Angelus Apatrida love riffs. This, their sixth album, suggests they devour them for breakfast, lunch and tea, and also as a bedtime snack. The band are fiercely patriotic, walking the fine line of their homeland’s censorship laws to challenge what they consider its “dictatorship, injustice, fascism, corruption”. That such anger flows through the razor-sharp Downfall Of The Nation, Betrayed and Ministry Of God is inevitable. These are fine, furious and well-constructed songs that make it hard to credit Angelus Apatrida hail from Albacete and not America’s Bay Arena – the melting point of where it all began. An intelligent mix of tempos and a crystal-clear production strike home, but what really impresses is the impact of those riffs.

For Fans Of: Exodus, Death Angel, Sepultura