Report: Thrashers United IV – Athens, Greece

Thrashers United IV // 7Sins Club, Athens, Greece // 10.01.2014

THRASHERS UNITED

“Thrashing and slamming like hell in the pit
Tomorrow they know may not come
Banging and moshing like they don’t give a shit
To the rapid beat of the drum” (D.R.I. – Thrashard)

“Don’t start to cry if you get a black eye
Just dive back in and give another try
But too much action may leave you in traction
So you better get insurance no matter your endurance” (Exodus – The Toxic Waltz)

Those words by those Thrash legends could pretty much sum up the Thrashers United event going on for the fourth time in 5 years! Exarsis, Bio-Cancer, Chronosphere, Fadom and Domination were there to show what the new breed of Thrash has to offer. A fully packed 7Sins awaited some of the most popular bands of the scene. The 16-year old phenomenon called Domination took the stage first to show what they’re made of. They played mostly material from their well-known so far “The Sacred Matrix” mini-CD (I Am Your God, Crisis, Death And Decay) in the style of Sepultura, Pantera and Slayer as well as newer stuff off the upcomingfull length “Infants Of Thrash” (playing the blistering title track and one more I can’t recall) creating the first mosh pits and stagedives (the writer being one of them!), giving it all for the crowd that set the tempo for the bands to come.

Coming up next we have Fadom, the honored band of the event releasing their debut full-length “Pantophobia” that day. The band decided to play that album in its entirety in a mixed ordered starting off with “Massive Destruction” making things even more violent in the pit including a surfboard for stagediving and plastic bananas (yes you heard it correct: two surfboards for all the maniac stagedivers). Songs played off that album were the title track, “Heavenfall”, “Thrash Bandicoot”, the anthemic “Thrasholution”, “Insidious Nurturing” and “Inhuman Annihilation Project”. The style of Fadom lies somewhere between Megadeth and Kreator, being the most melodic of the bands that night. Things went out of hand with the cover on Violator’s “Futurephobia” giving us a small hint of what will happen if Violator ever come to town for a show.

They left the stage in a round of applause and name chants only to welcome the band that made its first steps abroad: Chronosphere. These guys managed to gain fans at Wacken Open Air festival in arguably their most productive year: Greek tour with Suicidal Angels, European festivals (Metal Days, Wacken) and now Thrashers United to welcome the new year with their country-mates. In comes the band with one of their new tracks off the upcoming album called “Killing My Sins” and the pits start to really get out of hand with the most maniacal moshers packed into the club willing to destroy everything. Stagediving by younger guys (around 12-16 years old) show that this genre of music can really be a suitable soundtrack for their lives and really touch them. Wemostly heard stuff from their album “Envirusment” (title track, “Genetically Determined”, “Hypnosis” and “War Infection” as the closing track) as well as the track for which they made a video called “Brutal Decay”, an addictive track built for mosh pits with a kick ass solo break in the middle. They played one more song off the upcoming record I can’t recall, probably “The Redemption”.

After the explosion of Chronosphere it was time for Bio-Cancer and their ear piercing thrash!! Their new track called “Haters Gonna Suffer!” opened in an ideal way their show being small and killer in the vein of Wehrmacht, S.O.D., D.R.I. combined with the classic Bio-Cancer mix of Kreator, Destruction, Morbid Saint and Hypnosia. The crowd went crazy in their material from the “Ear Piercing Thrash” debut (“Backstabbed Again”, “Get Cancered Now!”, “Ear Piercing Thrash”, “You Scream You Die!”, “Killing Habit”, “Spread The Cancer”, “Anthem Of Violence”). We also heard the ripping title track off the upcoming record called “Tormenting The Innocent” (cover by the amazing Andrei Bouzikov check it out!) keeping the crowd going crazy and members of Exarsis, Chronosphere and Fadom being in the pit making noise with the rest of the crowd! That’s unity right there.

And finally the time came for the typically headliners of the night, Exarsis. With the leaving of Alex Papatheofanous(vocals), George Oikonomou (drums) and Chris Tsitsis (guitars), things seemed pretty uncertain for Exarsis. Yet they found new members, and have come back to maintain their strong momentum right before the tour with Suicidal Angels, Fueled By Fire and Lost Society. Key part and everyone’s anticipation revolved around the vocal department took over by Nick Tragakis. In came the “Annihilation…Proceed!” intro and “Surveillance Society” off the “The Brutal State” album and we had a small demostration of Nick’s vocal abilities: while retaining the Sean Killian influence, he had more of an Agent Steel-John Cyriis type of voice, clean high pitched screams that can really take the band to a new level. Mostly stuff off “The Brutal State” that night (“Addicting Life Waste”, “Dying Earth”, “Suicide Disorder”, “Toxic Terror”, “Under Destruction”) as well as a great new track “Police Brutality” whipping the crowd into a Thrashing frenzy for one more time.

When the lights went on, all you could see was blood, sweat and a wicked smile on everybody’s face for a hellish Thrash night. One Thrasher should always be thankful to the man himself of the Greek Thrash scene, Dimitris owner of Athens Thrash Attack for helping those bands in their early beginnings (with the exception of Domination that worked with Bob Katsionis) and making records for underground bands possible. Wish him and every band well in their career (go for them guys!!) not only playing that night but also in general.