Extinction A.D. – Decimation Treaty
Label: Good Fight Music
Release Date: February 16, 2018
Extinction A.D. was blasting in the studio today after I’d programmed next week’s radio shows for Too Metal For Church. Enjoying a coffee and a break in the work day I thought I’d hunt up an online review of the band’s second full-length album Decimation Treaty, the follow up to 2015’s excellent Faithkiller. I was shocked to see that the album has gotten very little press and that, my friends, is a travesty as the band has put out another solid thrash effort worth hearing about. Correction of said travesty follows.
Extinction A.D. hails from Long Island,, NY in the U.S. and was formed in 2013 from the ashes of metalcore band This is Hell. Their critically acclaimed debut full-length Faithkiller was released in 2015 and introduced their take on American thrash metal with both balls and flash. Having proven themselves to be adept with their ‘Tallica/Slayer mashup vibe I was very interested to hear their latest, Decimation Treaty after receiving its advance track back in January.
Decimation Treaty gets off to a great start with “Legions of the Grave”, a fast and furious ripper with great melodic leadwork standing in counterpoint with raging speed. “Secret Worlds” is a solid but unremarkable thrasher that leads to what is perhaps the album’s best track, “In the Wake of Uprising”. The track contains what I like to call the rare “lose your shit” riff meaning that as soon as you hear its opening notes you lose your shit. It will be a great hit in mosh pits everywhere and I truly believe that this should have been the album’s title track but we’ll discuss that below when we get to “Decimation Treaty”.
Up next is “Pray to Die” where we find Extinction A.D. channeling their best classic Slayer vibe to satisfying effect. “Burnt Indifference” follows but, ironically, I was left feeling rather indifferent toward it. That state however was slaughtered by “The Onslaught” which could easily be chosen as top track instead of the other mentioned above. It enjoys some crushingly heavy riffage and great tempo changes that range between pastoral and utter chaos. It is a magnificent track.
“Age of Revenge” is the beginning of the end for the album in truth but it is another solid thrasher that sports some particularly tasty lead work. “De-Evolution Theory” is somewhat of a curiosity clocking in a a mere 1:48 with nothing particular noteworthy about the track to suggest why this might be. We then wrap it all up to the title track, “Decimation Treaty”, a seven-and-a-half minute instrumental that has some great parts but fails to come together. The track certainly spent some time going places, I just wasn’t sure where we were once we got there. Were I to interview the band one of the first questions I’d pose is why make this one the title track?
Overall, Decimation Treaty is an excellent thrash album that is worthy of your ears and great successor to Faithkiller. I’d love to see these guys live.
Visit Bandcamp to pick up the band’s tunes: https://extinctionad.bandcamp.com/
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