Thanatos formed in 1984, under the watchful eye of a youthful Stephan Gebédi, in the Netherlands. So essentially one could make the argument that he is responsible for starting the death/thrash movement in that part of the world. Without going into too much history I’ll just say Century Media, from 2013-2014 re-issued and remastered all of the prior Thanatos releases with bonus content. The reissues are outstanding and my reviews are on this site as well as an interview with Stephan, done earlier this year.
Global Purification is the sixth long player from Thanatos and it’s punishing. Album opens with the title track that deathly thrashes along until Yuri rips into a punishing blast beat later on in the song. Stephan’s vocals have that killer deathly snarl to them and he sounds incredibly pissed off on this release, which only enhances his vocal performance. The guitars are razor sharp on this album too. “Queen of Gore” is a personal favorite of mine, with an outstanding rhythm section and a super brutal blasting section on this track.
“World Jihad” is also another highlight. Devoid of any blasts, the tune rips from start to finish with its upbeat death/thrash pace throughout the track. I picked up the limited edition version, of the cd, which contains the extra song, “Dawn of the Dead”, a new and improved version, which originally appeared on their debut 1990 album, Emerging from the Netherworlds. This retake on the original classic song is vicious. The mix from Dan Swanö is great. The guitars really breathe on this release and the drums sound fantastic, I just love the snare sound, especially during the blast beats. Stephan’s vocals are excellent too. The bass guitar sound, I felt, could have been a little more audible, that is a minor complaint.
If you have loved the past work from Thanatos then Global Purification needs to be in your collection. It’s a monstrous display of brutal death thrash metal that was one of the finest releases for 2014. Buy or your Blood will be Spilled!!
