A Review of the Album "Kin" by British Thrash Metal Band Xentrix

“Kin” is the third studio album by British thrash metal band Xentrix and this one was released in 1992 and Kin represents a change in the band’s musical direction. The album does not have as much of a thrash metal feel as Shattered Existence or For Whose Advantage? Yes, the second album of Xentrix does have a question mark at the end of its title but it is just one of those odd things in music I guess. This is sure to disappoint many metal fans. Kin is also the last album to feature Chris Astley on lead vocals and as one of their guitar players.

“A Friend to You” is a song that lyrically wants to tell us that sometimes we have friends in life that we will never truly know in spite of the fact that they tell us what is right and what is wrong. You can confide in this friend or can you? There is also a ballad song in this album called “No More Time” and some of you might be thinking that this is weird coming from a group of guys that up to this point have tried to put out melodic punk metal and thrash metal. The song is good but cannot compare to a classic song such as Return to Serenity. No more Time lyrically speaks of the corruption and greed of man’s selfish choices. Will man never learn his lesson? All of us are living on borrowed time so the song says that we have two choices. Those choices are to forget our future or live with limitations knowing what we will lose in the end. There are people in this world that are making so much money and they want even more money, thus continuing to fall into the trap called “the myth of more." Waiting is a song that tries to let us know that in life there is no second chance so we have to make the most of what we have. Come Tomorrow is a song that is about someone that looks back at his life and he has regrets. He is never really able to see the sun or the light of the day. Release is a song about a person who is fed up with playing by the rules and conforming to other people’s standards. He wants to live his own life and do his own things. Many of us can relate to being in a toxic and controlling friendship. “I See Through You” is a song about the fact that a person that has nothing in their life has everything to gain because he or she really has nothing left to lose. There is no reward without suffering or is that really true?

The album Kin addresses lots of themes related to human greed, corruption and relationships but the album is slower, less thrash metal influenced and more watered down if we can even call it that. I don’t know if Chris Astley wanted this last contribution with Xentrix to be this way but Kin is a decent album from a good thrash metal band. Sometimes, though, change is necessary for growth on a musical and personal level. However, this is nowhere near as good as Metallica’s black album in terms of mainstream level metal music.