SHRAPNEL – Palace For The Insane
Label: Candlelight Records
Release Date: May 15, 2020
The thrash is strong with Shrapnel. Their 3rd offering entitled PALACE FOR THE INSANE is an absolute ripper and will satisfy any metal heads need for killer riffs, thundering bass and drums, ripping ass solos and classic thrash vocals. Bang your goddamn head!!!
Hailing from Norwich UK, which other than a thriving arts scene also has a very rich and even medieval history, this band seems to have a firm grasp on how to construct a killer song. The album has many different grooves and even time signatures while maintaining a familiar sound on each track. It is pretty killer in my opinion.
Right off the start they hit you with a wall of sound as the volume swells and breaks into a furious bang your fucking head groove with ‘Might of Cygnus’, which is a tribute to the late great Neil Peart of RUSH. Blending all of their signature sounds into one track creating a MONSTEROUS opening to a really killer album. Few bands understand what opening the album strong means. These dudes get totally get it!
Another really good track is ‘Begin Again’. Coupling clean dissonant sections with heavy distorted ass ripping guitars in-between. I really love when musicians use the push and pull of clean riffs and distorted ones like ‘Fade to Black’ or ‘Cemetery Gates’. It causes the listener to be pulled back and fourth and IMO helps you become enveloped within the song itself.
All in all this all offers up a lot more than just bang your head thrash metal. It is full of catchy riffs, well placed vocals, and all around foot tapping groove. If you like heavy music in any form you should give this a listen. HEAVY FUCKING METAL!!!