Review by Felix on March 27, 2020.

'Freewheel Burning' was the opener of Judas Priest's masterpiece "Defenders of the Faith" from January 1984. Almost 35 years later, Power from Hell play their version of this early speed/thrash classic and what can I say? Excellent selection, miserable execution. I miss the high-pitched screams and the charisma of Halford and even the music does not have this irresistible momentum of the original. That's pretty embarrassing in view of the technical possibilities of today, if I am not completely mistaken.

Let's try to forget this experiment gone wrong and have a look at their own material they feature on this well-designed vinyl (poster, lyric sheet). The delicately titled 'Hell's Gangbang' opens the gates wide to the realm of black thrash metal without chaotic sequences. Power from Hell are not known for unorthodox structures and they keep sticking to their guns. Almost primitively designed pieces with a more or less good flow and a minimum number of breaks form an EP which scores with homogeneity, integrity and power. 'Obscure Creation' has a great riff, a convincing chorus and a stormy solo, but the rebellious guitars of 'Altar of the Black Rites' also illustrate that the band has slightly increased its song-writing skills. Even though the songs stand in the tradition of the former releases, a certain new maturity shimmers through.

However, the Brazilian three-piece does not revolutionize its style, by far not. The malicious voice is still present, the vibes of early Venom are not missing and, as always, the production spreads the rotten stench of the underground. Given this situation, I regret that Blood 'n' Spikes clocks in at 21 minutes - a full album would have been great, because all of their own compositions ensure this pretty fine feeling of filthy fun that characterizes this bastard called black thrash metal. Power from Hell will never become the most exciting band of the universe, but they know their trade and I do not miss anything with the exception of the caught, bound and gagged girl that usually ornaments their artworks. But maybe she just could not bear this unworthy version of Priest's monument.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Alex on November 15, 2018.

You really can’t ask for much more than what is presented on this 2018 3 song demo from Teleport. The Expansion is a ride through the untouched regions of time. If you love technical death metal that sounds old school but with a pinch of melody, then this will surely be an adequate treat until Teleport feels like the masses are deserving enough of a full length album. I was searching the technical death metal underground for something that bathed me with interstellar music that felt obscure and occult driven, something that sounded organic and had with it a concise theme and sense of progression through dark and entangled passages. Having heard Blood Incantation, Vector and Droid, I was not expecting to hear something I would desire more than the aforementioned bands. And having researched Teleport and discovered they have within their spacecraft 3 demos and an EP, I just had to hear the rest of their material. After listening to past efforts, I can make many distinctions in the change of musical directions genre-wise; their debut demo, Galactic Usurper was very thrash metal oriented and had the blackened touch of vocals and a bit of crossover while sounding heavily influenced by early Sepultura. 

2013’s Stellar Damnation introduced more varied and complex songwriting with progressive influences creeping into the bands identity. The thrash metal was somewhat still very dominant but gelled well with the addition of the progressive guitar tone and riff structure. It is also on Stellar Damnation you can hear the band begin to shed its thrashy roots a bit in barter for varied and technical compositions such as on the track “Obliteration of The Primordials”. The Ascendance EP gave birth to a band that had shed a large portion of their thrash metal skin in an attempt to take on technical and significantly more progressive music. The black metal vocals were still very much a part of the music and the bands identity and remained perhaps the only element that had survived Teleport’s musical metamorphosis. Even in this mutation the vocals seemed to have been undergoing slight changes in tone that were husky. The music started to sound more death metal especially in the soloing and riffing departments. Ascendance was a very good and very foreign release compared to previous efforts, it also stood out as a more confident, mature and chancy offering than prior. 

Upon us in the year 2018 is the solar reflection of The Expansion, an EP that would take the progressive, death and technical elements and magnify them to levels that would ensure the total change in the bands identity. This is what I’m hoping to be the final evolutionary stage in Teleport’s epitome, thus it seems they have reached the peak of discovering a sound to call inherently theirs. Like the past input from Teleport as much as you want, but there is no arguing that The Expansion is light years ahead of their early and even most recent material. This is the band merging into its newly acquired cell structure and membrane. Vocals now are more like death growls with a tiny layer of raspy hawking, the drum work is comprised of standard and intricate blast beats plus ghosting in select parts, and the riffs don’t just appear and leave, they show up and stay lingering in your mind, they’re outstanding and play along elegantly with rhythm. These 3 songs are the best teleport has ever written in their career; "Apothic Flames of Dissolution", fucking aaaaaaaa!, take that to Jupiter. Totally spellbinding stuff, it’s 9 minutes of technical/progressive sensations and smeared landscapes. The production is excellent on The Expansion, each instrument has its glowing moment, every pitch of the vocals grooves into the composition thus giving the ep a strong consolidating effect. The Expansion is merely a warning of the meteor coordinated to strike the underground, hopefully soon. Teleport are not just an excellent band they are a needed band, a relevant band; there is no reason for them being unsigned, unless they have refused past offers.

Rating: 8 out of 10