It is, at best, a handful of times in a year that we’re given a work of thrash that actually manages to not just hold our attention but remind us of what power and strength the genre can still have when it’s in the hands of those that know precisely what they’re doing. Much to my dismay, thrash remains one of those sounds that can be quite secluded from many of my listening habits, but when a piece of the sound manages to keep me engaged, it’s an absolute ripper! I have heard tell of Ejecutor and their decades-long dominance in the Chilean scene, yet it wasn’t until now with their latest offering that I realize their power and subsequently realize my mistake in not seeking them out sooner.

Despite what many might think, thrash metal is anything but one-dimensional; it requires the talent in question to not only understand that but know how to properly approach and twist the sound so that it becomes something more than some speedy rhythms that are hoping to cloak mediocrity through an accelerated pace. As such, when a band does accomplish the feat of harnessing the hellfire of what thrash can be, it tends to make for quite a spectacle. For everything that went into “Medium… La Daga de la Iniciación”, it ought to be obvious that Ejecutor has delivered the goods in such a way that few throughout the vastness of the underground could ever hope to bring to the table. Through diabolical melodies and a tremendous layer of darkness that permeates even the smallest moments of the record, it’s this sinister testament of thrash metal that we see death metal expertly interwoven into the mix, allowing “Medium… La Daga de la Iniciación” to not just offer an air of dominance through menace but see it through all the way to the end. A straightforward assault upon the senses but one that makes the most out of each of its titanic steps, it’s here that Ejecutor serves as a reminder of what the old school can still offer when channeled masterfully, given the space to breathe and leaving nothing to chance.

It could be months before I find myself before another effort that does thrash metal as much justice as what Ejecutor has accomplished here. The style is immensely fickle for those who don’t know what they’re doing, and as if their solid back catalog wasn’t enough to learn from, it’s with everything delivered throughout “Medium… La Daga de la Iniciación” that the genre is given far more than the teeth to match its bite. Dark, ferocious, and indisputably intense, Ejecutor remains one of Chile’s best-kept secrets in more ways than one.

LISTEN to “Medium… La Daga de la Iniciación” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Ejecutor on Facebook here.