Underground: Endless Recovery – Thrash Rider

The Greek Thrash metal scene stands tall and proud (maybe that’s a positive side effect of the financial crisis), not only by their local gods such as Suicidal Angels, Released Anger and Mentally Defiled but also by bands such as Exarsis, Bio-Cancer, Chronosphere, Fadom, Over-Throw, Domination and the band being reviewed this time: Endless Recovery. These guys released their first EP “Liar Priest” about 2 years ago, showing the style of Thrash they love playing: majorly influenced by the Unholy Teutonic Thrash Trinity (Kreator, Sodom, Destruction) and a bit of Slayer just to spice up the mix. It showed though that there was still room for improvement in terms of musicianship. Which came with the change of members in vocals and guitars.

The album is called “Thrash Rider” reminding a bit of the classic “Evil Invaders” by Canadian maniacs Razor in its cover. It kicks in with “Urban Crime”: samples of riots, police sirens, firing, smoking guns and a song showing some Destruction/Sodom influence and the room the bass is given in the production (that break) as well as the great vocals by M. Skliros. His style is somewhere between Tom Angelripper (Sodom), Schmier (Destruction) and Wagner Antichrist (Sarcofago). “War In The Streets” is another fast song taken from the early Kreator days (“Terrible Certainty”/”Extreme Aggression” era) and as the previous one it deals lyricwise with war against the police’s oppressive tactics. “Power Of Hate” is another fast song somewhere between Slayer, Kreator and Sodom with a kick ass chorus and solo, lyrically addressing the issue of one believing in his/her-self and facing the life’s difficulties, never caring for people tearing’em down.

“Corrupted Media Propaganda” (quite obvious lyrical content don’t you think?) is the most Slayeresque song on the record including sample of a well known reporter (Panos Sompolos) again ripping fast through our ears showing some more gang vocals by the rest of the band especially in the chorus. Coming up next is “Vision Of The Youth” showing some Anthrax influence in their mostly Teutonic oriented sound, this one being a track balancing between midtempo and fast tempo and dealing with the dreams of the youth brought down by political decisions. Another personal song lyricwise awaits with “Habbits Mutation” (there’s a promo video for this one) inspiring people to make changes on things they don’t like about themselves via fast Thrash riffs and ass kicking solos. “Handycapped Corpse” is another ripping song that screams “Endless Pain” with a midtempo chorus leading to a small pause then back to the high speed riffage. The title track of the album is more Destruction oriented yet never letting go, starting off with roaring engines and Thrash-praising lyrics. What a blast to end the album! Endless Recovery released a solid debut album showing their actual potential. Until their next live show support them any means possible and…beware of his speed!

John Savidis