Review by JD on April 22, 2014.

As a bona fide Canadian metalhead, I do take pleasure in finding bands here in our freezing cold wastelands that blow the doors off of most. Canadian metal is simply fucking good, and there are many that fit that description. Here to prove this piece of headbanging info is Calgary based old school blackened thrash trio Blackrat.

Taking a nearly lo-fi approach to their black/thrash in the vein of such bands as Mayhem, Celtic Frost and Bathory (old), these guys are not fucking around. With thick pounding riffs and evil vocals growling from the bowels of the earth, the music invokes the early 80’s black metal, and has Satan breathing new life in to it all.

I was intrigued as the doom metal-ish intro rumbled through, then knocked on my ass when the album kicked into its black/thrash gear. Tracks like the evil exploding album’s title track to the insane brutality of "Black Thrashing Massacre" show the power that old school still holds for the newer musicians. The whole disk holds this vibe throughout – never once backing off of the accelerator. A true metal album, in the classic Canadian assaultive way.

I think this is one hell of a record that Blackrat has delivered for us all. Ignoring a few recording glitches that even a purposely done Lo-Fi approach can’t ignore, the album is nothing new and yet so powerful and rich with flying hooks and insane heaviness in its own way. Blackrat may not have invented anything new here, but they have delivered a fresh take on a somewhat lost art in metal. For me, that is a win for Canadian metal for its march for domination.

Rating: 8 out of 10