Lost Society: Braindead

Finnish thrashers break away from the herd

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Lost Society’s third album has stepped so far away from the full-throttle Municipal Waste-style thrash of yore that you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to a different band.

The four-piece kick off Braindead with I Am The Antidote and its chugging, mid-paced riffs, Avenged Sevenfold-esque twin guitar parts and new screamo vocal style from frontman Samy Elbanna signal a new opening of horizons from the Finns. They continue to impress throughout the hammering hardcore punch and groove of Riot and the twists and turns in the eight-plus minutes of Only (My) Death Is Certain.

Even as thrash screamers such as Rage Me Up and Hangover Activator go off like a rocket, the all-out attack is tempered with more measured parts, and as such there never feels like there’s a stale moment.

Of course this newfound range could be enough to push away some of the band’s more puritanical fans, but for the everyone else, Braindead lays out a tantalising stall for the future of Lost Society.