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No hardcore band of the last decade has worn their love of thrash metal as firmly on their sleeves as This Is Hell.
By the time of their last album, 2011’s Black Mass, they had basically morphed into a pure Bay Area tribute.
So it’s no surprise to see the direction guitarist Rick Jimenez has taken for his new project, Extinction AD. All the pace, rawness, sharp, spiky riffs and apocalyptic lyrical content that characterises the best of thrash is here in spades.
Close your eyes and the excellent Echoes Of Life could be Testament at their best, while the guttural Civil Execution borrows from the more extreme end of Teutonic thrash and Prisoners aims for the sort of creepy opening that Slayer perfected on Dead Skin Mask before just going back for the jugular. Basically, if you’ve longed for a modern band to come along and deliver thrash metal in a classic style with the reverence it deserves, Faithkiller was made for your banging head.
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Stephen joined the Louder team as a co-host of the Metal Hammer Podcast in late 2011, eventually becoming a regular contributor to the magazine. He has since written hundreds of articles for Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Louder, specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal. He also presents the Trve. Cvlt. Pop! podcast with Gaz Jones and makes regular appearances on the Bangers And Most podcast.