Now we’re talking! Die Hard’s Nihilistic Vision is old school thrash metal with a swinging set of elephant balls and a death metal attitude. Featuring members of Watain, the style owes as much to early Slayer and Venom as it does to Exodus or the Bay Area School, and it hits like a pair of brass knuckles to the chops.

In fact, consider an approach that takes Slayer and Venom and mixes it with the battering ram attack of Wolverine Blues era Entombed and the chainsaw riffing of Exodus. The vocals are barked and enunciated in a manner reminiscent of both Cronos and L.G. Petrov, giving the entire affair an added layer of steel. There are even bits and pieces that vaguely remind of early Sepultura, such as on “Bloody War,” one of several cuts that are also quite catchy. Psychotic scream vocals on the frantic “Ride the Incubus” is a nice change up, as are the lustful sounds of a lass being pained/pleasured by a bestial sort. And if you can’t mosh to “Mercenaries of Hell” (one of the tracks with a blatant Exodus chainsaw riff) then you’re either paralyzed from the waist down or too old to be carrying on that way.

In summary, Nihilistic Vision is a head crushing, smoke-billowing, speedy locomotive of a thrash album that comes with some pretty darn memorable songwriting. But it is the bad attitude and nasty disposition pouring out through the speakers that really sets this one apart from your average thrash album. Play it loud; it’s the only way.

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