크래쉬 / Crash - The Paragon of Animals (2010) - Freshly revamped Korean thrash metal - 70% (27/05/14)

Metal bands from South Korea aren’t very popular in the Western world but this culturally addicting country offers a few bands that should get some international praise from traditional heavy metal acts like Asiana, Baekdoosan or Sinawe to exotic contemporary acts like the symphonic folk metal band with Korean instruments and lyrics called Gostwind, the symphonic gothic metal act Dark Mirror Ov Tragedy or the promising experimental progressive metal five piece Au Revoir Michelle. When it comes to talk about Korean thrash metal, one has to cite first of all the band Crash that had been formed in Seoul back in 1989. They had actually started their career with their first record “Endless Supply Of Pain” and its famous hit “My Worst Enemy” five years later and took the scene of their home country by surprise. The band played pitiless thrash metal while their later releases would also see more and more groove and industrial metal influences. Seven years after their last studio release, the band came around with their current album entitled “The Paragon Of Animals”. This record showcases the musical influences of the band over the past twenty years and manages to add a modern touch to it. While their music doesn’t reach the same high quality as many similar Japanese acts like Gargoyle, Loudness or Sex Machineguns, open-minded fans of bands such as Kreator or Sepultura should try their latest strike out without any hesitation.

Pure old school thrash metal songs like the energizing closer “Fierce People” aren’t though what you should expect from this album. In fact, the four men offer a vivid mixture of old school thrash metal, classic groove metal, a few hardcore passages and several modern metalcore elements with the most prominent example of that style being the great “Atheist”.

The opener already shows you the way this album will take. “Crashday” is energizing, fast and vivid but the band adds a few modern and melodic breaks in this blistering madness. That’s just the right way to open an album. But things get even better in form of the dark and dystopian mixture of groove and thrash metal in “Creeping I Am” or the exceptional “Lucid Sycophant” that sounds like a mad mixture of early apocalyptic Voivod, Pantera in the middle of their career and classic Kreator.

Two other songs are really outstanding on this album because they try out a few unusual things. “Cold Blooded” is something like a mid-tempo thrash metal ballad with melodic vocals, heartbreaking guitar solos and an epic storyteller feeling that concludes with a spoken word closure. The second stunner is entitled “The New Black” and turns out to be the longest track on here. It’s almost a completely instrumental song with only a few very well performed spoken word passages. The track isn’t only technically appealing with its epic guitar melodies, the pumping bass guitar, the album’s best and most diversified drum performance and a heavy metal influenced song writing that doesn’t lose its sympathetic edges. It’s also a truly epic and almost cinematic masterpiece that makes you want to ride into battle. The band should have put a few more songs like this one on the record because they are surprising and add a lot of freshness to the final product.

In the end, we have a solid potpourri of groove metal, metalcore and thrash metal that mixes old school with modern elements. I think that traditional metal fans might dislike the record’s modern take while younger audiences should really enjoy this album and discover the pioneers of Korean thrash metal in a freshly revamped version. Two songs break out of the usual genres, might take the listeners by surprise and are in fact the two winning arguments to purchase this record. Some of the remaining nine songs aren’t always killer tracks and get a little bit repetitive from time to time. The record doesn’t kick off with the greatest songs but happens to grow and get better and better towards the end and patient listeners will definitely get rewarded.

Originally written for The Metal Observer