The realms of metal are in a tremendous state as a whole, if you ask me. We live in a time where the sound is being constantly supplied by greatness from legions of new names while old veterans are still cranking away as their reputations precede them in damn near every given instance. Yet, not everything is created equal nor given the same treatment by its supplicants. Thrash is undoubtedly one of the sounds that can be considered lagging behind for one reason or another, but there are always a few bastions ready to leap from the shadows and show us what the style can still be in the right hands. Within their first full-length album, Mayhemic displayed a power and ferocity that thrash metal could always use more of.

While it’s only on rare occasion that we’re able to bear witness to black metal and thrash coming together in such a form that feels compelling even in a work’s smallest moments, it goes to show just how tricky the sound can still be after all this time. It really takes the right kind of approach and a particular skill set in order to capitalize on all of that latent potential with only a few names able to deliver. Not since my discovery of Oxygen Destroyer have I come before an act that’s been able to do just that, but it’s now that I find myself before the might of Mayhemic that the drought has ended with a glorious quencher of a record. Named after a cataclysmic explosion over 70,000 years ago that damn near snuffed out all life across the planet while ensuring a volcanic winter for years, “Toba” is suitably destructive and more than earns its name. Simply blistering in its execution and the embodiment of much of what thrash as a whole hasn’t seen too much of in its more extreme environments, Mayhemic stands out from the crowd more than enough as the entity is covered head to toe in blood and viscera right from the get-go as none are spared from the band’s maddening wrath. This is what it means to embody speed and all the terror that comes from it. It’s viciously addicting for what it does bring to the table in a real hurry, but never once does Mayhemic miss an opportunity to make “Toba” a creation devoid of surprising melody that pulls almost directly from classic heavy metal to make for a wild blend that really ropes the listener ever deeper into what this cataclysm has to offer with all the spectacle, terror, and macabre fascination that one could ask for from such a creation.

Where speed and fury come together in a form that’s nothing short of bewildering to look upon, Mayhemic salvages the style from a fate that seemed to be up to the rare acts like Oxygen Destroyer to keep going. An act that is certain to have many of us coming crawling back just for another hit of that fiery speed we can’t get enough of and seldom see in such dastardly capacity, “Toba” promises great things when it comes to the future of Mayhemic.

LISTEN to “Toba” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Mayhemic on Facebook here.