Underground: AMKEN – Adrenaline Shot (EP)

The starting track of this EP is the title track, which is a full-speed ahead Thrasher made to destroy venues and make people fly off stages cause “IT’S FULL SPEED OR NOTHING!” (I see the Metallica reference you did there!). Up next we have “Zombie Pets” well known for it’s amazing video-clip, a Thrash track balancing between speed and mid-tempo in the beginning as well as great solos (both John and Vanias are avid musicians), and lots of humour in the lyrics dealing with zombies (not an unusual subject in Thrash metal lyrical repertoire).

And that’s the point where the EP kind of splits into 2 parts: the first straight-forward Thrash one and the second one which, while certainly being Thrash metal, it incorporates more technical riffage that show some Sepultura/Death influences and maybe bring a bit Destruction of the “Release From Agony” era to mind. “Nightmares” includes a beautiful intro from a music box and an acoustic outro, that creates an eerie atmosphere, and melodic riffage that makes a mostly atmospheric and mid-tempo Thrash song. “God’s Asleep” is the final track including more technical riffage and Maiden-esque melodies, as if they were taken from a melodic Death metal song. And that groovy break sounds so awesome, with that sick yet melodic solo that brought the Sepultura influences I mentioned above (kind of reminded me the “Inner Self” solo by Andreas Kisser) using a moshier version of the first riff under more great soloing, and so to end this great release!

AMKEN have made a strong point with this release, on top of their super energetic live performances (the only equivelant in terms of younger age and energy is Lost Society) that made them a really significant force in the Thrash underground! Keep your zombie pets at bay, AMKEN is here to stay! MOSH!

Reviewer: John Savvidis