DUBLIN DEATH PATROL – Death Sentence

September 11th, 2012 by jason

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Self-proclaimed thrash supergroup, Dublin Death Patrol finally hit the racks with their follow up to 2007’s debut DDP – 4 Life. A lot has happened in the intervening five years, but remarkably, the band’s main protagonists have come together again and Death Sentence for the most part hangs together as a competent, well-crafted and insistent piece of prime-time thrash.

The band’s main axis is the vocal partnership between long-time Testament howler, Chuck Billy and ex-Exodus (also formative Testament) frontman, Steve Souza. I remember seeing Testament’s controversial show back in the day and Billy’s stage presence was compelling. On Death Sentence he once again sets a commanding standard, forcefully urging us to ‘remember to dismember’ on the excellent Macabre Candor, a track that has a chug to die for. My problem is the interchange with Steve Souza’s rasping, slightly deranged vocal delivery. On the otherwise excellent opener, Mind Sewn Shut, the contrast between the two styles has more jar than a Mothers Union chutney stall. Messy. Dehumanize suffers a similar fate. Chuck simply blasts Steve away in the trade-offs and vocal lick exchanges. And yet there are glimpses of what can be. On tracks like Welcome To Hell and Butcher Baby the two gel in a seamless gutteral onslaught.

The production is clean, the guitars are razor sharp and the grind is urgent. Despite the in-your-face track titles, there is nothing too sinister or challenging amongst these solidly penned slabs of metal. Indeed Blood Angel and Butcher Baby rip out of the speakers and betray, I kid you not, positively catchy hooks. Imagine yourself back in a sweaty, sticky floored Marquee Club circa 1991 and this will press all the right buttons.

***1/2

Dave Atkinson

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