2017’s ‘The Grinding Wheel’ saw the same line-up as their previous outing, but there is something different about this album which I can’t really put my finger on. Is it the overall production sound? Well, the final mix was conducted by the maestro Andy Sneap, so maybe that’s it. Or is it the urgency and passion that is really coming from this album in spades? Is it the quality of the songs themselves? I give up. I have most, if not all, of their albums and this is their finest yet. A band that started back in 1980 shouldn’t really be producing their finest work nearly forty years later! But here it is, and a delight it from the start through very nearly to the end (more on that later).
Bobby Blitz and D.D Verni are still writing all the material, but here they have stepped it up a notch and there are audible nods to bands like Judas Priest and Black Sabbath as well as peers such as Testament and Exodus. The chorus to “Our Finest Hour” is “I'll be your conscience I'll be your guide, I'll be the black-hand that stops your genocide, I'll be the understanding undisputed power, I'll hold your hand in this our finest hour”. As they say, it is their finest hour, with loads of power, and this has a hook that makes me want to play it again and again. Some of the others are a bit more tongue in cheek, such as “Let’s All Go To Hades” where they deliberately slow it down for the introduction before speeding up again - reminiscent of some old NWOBHM numbers. This is one that makes me smile each timer I hear it.
My only major groan of the album itself is the title cut, which is the last song on the album. It ends by fading out into a few delicate notes. I have no idea what is going on here, or why, but is no way to end a thrash album. But, in some ways that seems a minor quibble on what is a very fine album indeed. Turn it up, play it loud, this album deserves to be treated with respect.
