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DOOMSDAY “Never Known Peace”
DOOMSDAY “Never Known Peace”
By Thor
After singles galore and a couple EPs/demos, the California thrash brigade known as DOOMSDAY has finally unleashed a debut LP, “Never Known Peace”, and it’s a good one.
Here’s what I know about DOOMSDAY:
There are a lot of bands named “Doomsday”. This one is from Oakland, CA, (Oaktown, babay!) and they play what I’d describe as classic Bay Area thrash (no shit!) meets modern crossover thrash. Also, one of their axmen, Ryan Calaveras, is in the grindcore monstrosity RIPPED TO SHREDS, which instantly piqued my interest in this project.
Right out of the gate, “Never Known Peace” is a sonically beefy album. The drums are massive, with subbier-than-average bass drums for this genre and huge-sounding toms. On top of that, the band has riffs for days, and, as I mentioned above, the result really is the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of Bay Area thrash/crossover medleys. From fast and frenetic riffs with a touch of melody to neck-snapping pit-starters, the song writing is fun and aggressive, always heavy, and very well-balanced.
Unfortunately, the bass guitar gets swallowed up at times, but with drums this assertive on the low-end—and I don’t mind that here—something had to give.
The only thing I’m not sure I’m all-the-way-onboard with is the vocals. The phrasing is great, and there are sick gang vocals all over the place. AND lead vocalist Carlos Velazquez’s approach is aggro, which I much prefer over melodic thrash vocals… BUT there’s something a little cartoonish about many of his emphatic annunciations that I don’t quite dig.
It’s not a dealbreaker by any measure, though, and I’m hoping it’ll grow on me, but damn…so, close to perfection. Even so, DOOMSDAY’s debut LP “Never Known Peace” is a thrash metal banger from top to bottom. There’s not a weak second to be heard. Go get it!
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