No Life Til Metal - CD Gallery

Possessor - City Built With Skulls (Slaney) 2012

1. Intro (:59)
2. Fire From Hell (3:00)
3. Taste the Blade (3:05)
4. Heavy Metal Underground (2:37)
5. City Built With Skulls (2:56)
6. Hammer and Nails (3:49)
7. Hellbound Drifters (5:10)
8. Champions of Chaos (5:51)
9. Who's There? [Slicer intro] (1:04)
10. Slicer (4:42)
11. Reaper of Death (4:59)
12. Metal Meltdown (2:33)
13. Outro (1:00)

Anyone familiar with NoLifeTilMetal.com knows that I am a huge fan of old-school thrash metal. From the classic bands to the modern thrash metal revival. I can usually find something I like about nearly every thrash band. However there are some bands that I find better than others. Of the new school of thrashers, Havok and Vektor sit fairly high on my list of favorites. Viriginia's Possessor are another band that are poised to sit high on that list as well.

Possessor are another in the growing list of New Wave of Thrash Metal bands to come out. Though they've been thrashing around Virginia for a few years, releasing a couple of demos and a split EP in 2010. "City Built With Skulls" is the band's full length debut released on Ireland's Slaney Records. The music is pure, romping, raucous, unapologetic thrash metal. It's quite obvious that Possessor are not out to re-invent the steel, but rather to create the best thrash metal they can. Whereas the majority of the new wave thrashers seem to be content writing fast riffs without thought to memorable songs, Possessor offer both fast songs and memorable hooks. As well, many of the new thrash bands seem to want to be Exodus or Slayer clones. Whereas I can hear some Slayer and Exodus influences throughout Possessor's music, I tend to think that this band graduated from the John Ricci (Exciter) school of speed, thrash and burn, right down to the cacophonous guitar solos and helium ingested vocals. Vocalist Robbie Rainey offers a varied vocal assault, mixing up gravely vocals with plenty glass shattering falsetto highs. As well, the riffs will have any self-respecting rivet-head banging their head.

Lyrically, don't look to Possessor for any sort of deep social, religious or political lyrics. Rather, Possessor stick to the darker themes; grim reapers, blood red devils, hellish zombies and a creature called "Slicer". The lyrics aren't for the faint of heart. For that matter, neither is the music. Possessor may claim to be "born from hell" but it's fairly obvious they are born three decades too late. Possessor were born from the 80's and are darned proud of it!

1. Make Them Eat Metal (2:56)
2. Battle Cry (4:44)
3. Land of the Minotaur (2:44)
4. Metal Knights (2:30)

On the heels of their "City Built With Skulls" full-length album comes this four song EP. As would be expected from these Virginia thrashers, all four songs are vicious thrash metal assaults. The album opens with the title track which is a fast and furious thrasher. The band slows things down only slightly with "Battle Cry", a song that could have been recorded in the early 80's. This song gives me that same vibe as those early Metal Blade "Metal Massacre" albums. High pitched screams, a spastic lead break, thrashy riffs, and a raw, tough recording. Track three starts with a short intro, "The Minotaur must DIE!", and is another speedy thrash metal monster. The EP ends with a killer cover of Nasty Savage's classic "Metal Knights". The entire four song EP is over so quickly, it leave me just pummeled but wanting for more.