Review of the Album Roll of Dice by Greek Thrash Metal Band Thraz

Thraz is yet another thrash metal band that has been created and added to the growing list of Greek thrash metal bands and that is a great thing considering how much the nation of Greece has suffered because of its economic situation. David Mano who is the singer, guitarist and the band's leader. Thraz has influences ranging from Exodus, Megadeth, and Pantera among others. The album that we are reviewing is the one called Roll of Dice and if there is such a thing as taking a risk on certain thrash metal albums, this one is worth a listen for sure. The main influence that I hear among others early on in the album is Exodus also because the vocals sound a lot like Steve Souza. The riffs are heavy, powerful, and chunky if you listen to them closely enough.

Yes, I know that the band's name “Thraz” is one of the most peculiar in the history of the metal genre but with the way that the album starts, this small detail will not be an issue. I also hear kind of an Independent era Sacred Reich in this album and that influence can be heard in the song called Roll of Dice. I discovered this album on YouTube around 4:30AM a few days ago and for the avid thrash metal fan, this can occur as well.

Roll of Dice begins with the progressive starting song called Arrival - Braindead. One solid song does not make an album but with the way this album starts there is no reason to think that the music won't be promising. Then for what seems like out of the blue, the heavy riffing kicks in. The song lyrically talks about a society in which people are brainwashed for negativity. It feels like they are brain dead because they are not able to think critically and reason well enough. It is a shame when the world is full of people that hate others and they lie to try and get ahead in life. Once again, here is another thrash metal band that enhances its creativity by starting out an album with progressive guitar parts before speeding up and revealing the true extent of its goals which is to play thrash metal. One thing that I will say is that these Greek guys while good, probably do not get to the level of elite thrash metal bands but they just started their musical works and this first album is pretty good. The guitar work and sound along with the vocals at least in this first song shows the Exodus influence as the end of the song switches to the acoustic guitar. The chorus yet while demonstrative in an angry manner gives us the title of this first song.

Nothing From You is the next song on here and this one is lyrically about someone who thinks that they are prettier than everyone else. They think that they dress really nice but in reality they dress like clowns. “Roll of Dice” the title track lyrically is about the greed of man to conquer the world as nations are always looking to expand their lands. Colonization has always been a part of human history as nations have sought to expand and to build empires. The reality is that empires eventually fall. The media doesn't always tell us the truth of what's really going on behind the scenes. So far, we are three songs into this album and the first two of them are the best. Roll of Dice also has an interesting keyboard part which for a thrash metal band is rare.

Deceive is a song that lyrically tells us the story of what politicians do and they cannot be trusted. The song is trying to tell us that politicians get in power to not improve the lives of the people that they have been elected to serve. To them, it is all about doing what they can to protect their seats while the average people suffer. While this sort of characterization is an over-generalization of what politicians do, politics is a very dirty business though. Feeding the Hand musically is a semi-catchy song that is a mixture of Exodus combined with AC/DC. Get a Job is a song that lyrically is telling us that those that have nothing to do will be miserable so they had better get a job so that the misery fades into the distance. While a job in and of itself is not the best antidote to misery it may give the person a better purpose in the end. Most of us don't have trust funds so we need to work. Nonetheless, this was only about what that song was attempting to get across. “Bite Me” has that modern Megadeth feel to it. If you “rolled the dice” musically and were looking for a thrash metal album that is good enough to create some moderate excitement, then Roll the Dice is an album that does that. But if you were looking for a thrash metal album that is flawless then Roll the Dice definitely is not on that level. But let's give this album credit for the strong showing in the beginning as these Greeks put out three very good songs in a row. Even so, this album is not quite good enough to be as elite as say a Kreator or a Holy Moses type of album and the main reason is because the songs rely on too much of the same formula of Exodus style thrash. This is not a bad album by any means, but it lacks that extra prowess that would have put it into the elite category. Thraz is a good Greek thrash metal band that should have a very promising future if they work at it and stick to their principles because they do a good Exodus influenced thrash metal kind fo album.

Final Rating for the album Roll of Dice by Thraz: 80 points out of 100