Recently, I’ve been on a small stint of checking into the world of thrash and crossover thrash where there have been plenty of acts that have flown under my radar until recently coming into my sight. Coming back to Wraith, though, was coming back to familiar territory given I’m still a fan of their debut album from late last year, and I had my fingers crossed for a solid follow-up. I wasn’t expecting such a quick bounce back, but Wraith doesn’t like to sit around and this brand new record shows their power and musicianship increased from their last incursion.

Something that really impressed me about Wraith right off the bat when I first heard them was how uncompromisingly intense the band was and how every single track was similar in style as well as pacing, but the intensity and the riffage kept things fresh as Wraith stampeded right through the mosh pit. Going into “Heed the Warning”, I wasn’t afraid that Wraith was somehow gonna get softer but more so that they simply wouldn’t sound as good and didn’t take enough time to make another set of good songs comparable to their debut. Luckily, every aspect of “Heed the Warning” stands up to its predecessor in ways that I could’ve only hoped for beforehand. All eight of these tracks keep up with the massive presence that Wraith brought to the table beforehand and brought even more crunchy guitarwork as well as a continuously vicious assault upon the mind with a fiery rage the likes of which only combining black metal with that of crossover thrash could create at such a potent level. Each piece of “Heed the Warning” provides us a new reason to riot in the streets, allows the paint to peel right off the walls from the sound alone, and gives us eight more reasons to tell us why Wraith is easily one of the fresh new acts that anyone into blackened thrash or even just crossover thrash should be fucking clamoring for!

Not even a year after a stellar debut, this American trio shows us just how to do particularly venomous thrash metal is the very definition of flaming hatred in splendid fashion yet again. Finding out about “Heed the Warning” was definitely a pleasant surprise, but the overwhelming quality of these eight ragers is infinitely more satisfying that makes me wonder as to what Wraith is truly capable of as a unit.

LISTEN to “Heed the Warning” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Wraith on Facebook here.