Review of the Album Possessed by Thrash by French Thrash Metal Band Thrashback

France's Thrashback is a band that should be given a chance

Possessed by Thrash is the debut album for French thrash metal band Thrashback. Given the fact that I had really enjoyed the album Medieval Rites by Aggressor which is another French thrash metal band, I really decided to give France's Thrashback a chance and if you do this as well, it is a very good decision because these guys have good raspy vocals and the riffing is respectable. Some bands are difficult to write about given the graphic nature of the lyrics. There have been some French death and thrash metal bands such as Loudblast but that is an older French metal band.

Thrashback as their name implies does not hold back one bit when it comes to the play of their brand of thrash. We have covered various parts of the globe in covering the huge genre of thrash ranging from nations such as Malaysia, Australia and Greece.

There is the obvious fast picking along with the typical lyrics of the possible end of the planet as well as the planes that are used in times of warfare. The song called Box of Power makes reference to the one thing that has the potential to control the lives of humans if humans allow it to control them. That one powerful thing that has such a capability to control us is the TV of course.

One user on YouTube mentioned that this album was much better than they expected. That's a reasonable assessment given that France is not one of those countries in Europe that is super well known to most fans for the metal genre but I would say that France has the upper hand in the metal genre compared to countries such as Mexico or any other Spanish speaking country except Spain.

One thing that is noticeable is that the vocals sound like vocalist Jari Hurskainen. To begin this album as the word “extinction” is uttered what we have here is music that would make Metallica proud! Why is this the case? That is because these French guys use their modern style of thrash and make it sound “raw” even though it is not the old raw sound that we would have heard in the early 1980s.

There is also another stylistic approach that makes this album worthwhile and that is the harsh shouts combined with the raspy vocals because these two qualities make it evident that France's Thrashback is ready to play thrash metal and the performance is pretty darn good! The title track is an example of a thrash metal that has that nothing to lose kind of attitude as the speed is on full display. These guys are ready to play the brand of thrash that works! “Wardance” is a song that in spite of its title does not really reference the act of war but it is lyrically about getting ready and party on to the tunes of thrash metal. There is also a song on this album that has the same title as the band's name and they are sticking to the formula used on this album which is fast and heavy songs about partying and thrash metal in particular. “Feast for the Dogs” is a more mid-tempo song that resembles that “death rock” sound that the band Gandalf had and this is not a bad thing musically. It just means that these guys are experimenting and this attempt works in their favor.

What can be said about France's Thrashback? They show that they are more than ready to play modern thrash metal that works and they have done more than just started. This album is definitely a step maybe five steps in the right direction!