Short on technical ability, long on old school spirit, Australia's Vomitor evoke something Quorthon might have released on Black Mark had the label been around in 1987. Back-to-basics NWOBHM riffs filtered through a filthy mire of trebly guitar crunch, topped with echoed dry heave vocals… this ain't a bad thing, y'all.
If anything, The Escalation manages to sound more rudimentary and less Pro Tools-friendly than the band's 2002 debut, Bleeding the Priest, which at least had some semblance of production value behind it. It's been a long decade for Vomitor, with only 2010's Devils Poison to break the silence. The Escalation was actually released late last year in Europe through Invictus Productions but is just now seeing a US release via Hells Headbangers.
The latter record label has become synonymous with unpolished, subterranean thrash and death metal without getting too self-consciously "kvlt" about it, which makes Vomitor a logical signing. I don't know what the fuck "Hellburst to Fight" means, but the song itself is some seriously convincing, first wave BM-sounding shit if I've ever heard any.
"Metal or Die" trades Bathory in for early Venom, with discernible, midpaced NWOBHM riffs dominating the track after an early blast beat sleight-of-hand. Can't imagine that Fenriz from Darkthrone wouldn't be all over this band.
At a bare 30 minutes and only seven tracks, The Escalation is the perfect dose of old school blackened thrash in more of a beer swilling sense, basement party sense. IE. this isn't the kind of BM you set a candlelight vigil to, nor does it aspire to any more of an atmospheric vibe than the lo fi, tape trading aesthetic of the production dictates as a matter of course. This is meat & potatoes thrash, pure and simple.
8.5/10
The Escalation is out now on Hells Headbangers.
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