Review by Greg on July 17, 2024.

With no hyperbole whatsoever, the upcoming album by the young and unknown Polish thrashers in Exist was literally my most anticipated release of the whole current year. After all, their debut LP In The Void We Last was, in short, a lightning in a bottle moment of balls-out thrash with a boatload of naive energy and jaw-dropping technicality, and I was, and still am, simply enthusiastic about it – easily the most unsung highlight of 2021. Go track it right now, nothing you might be doing at the moment could be a better way to spend your next half an hour. We'll catch up later.

Ready now? Fantastic. Let's move on to the review.

Thus, after three years and a couple of lineup changes that lowered the group's average age even more (new shredder Tymek Zadrożny is merely 18), we are now confronted with the guys' second instalment with Frog Bomb. I didn't know what to make of the theme, also reflected in titles such as 'Eco-Friendly Crocs' or 'Frogs And Hoes', but the couple title+artwork (which may or may not have been generated with AI) looked killer enough not to care too much about it... even though I was moderately worried about whether or not they could have managed to recapture said lightning twice. Without further ado, well, I'd be inclined to say no. Time to explain why, then? Well, that's not to discredit the quality of the riffs (the vertiginous 'I Am Eternal' and 'Unite' have plenty of the good shit, to say), and especially not the always immaculate soloing, of course – almost each song contains a solo that would easily be the career highlight of many bands around. The one in 'Crown Of Tears' is astonishing, and the one on the closer (a cover of an obscure '90s Polish band that starred frontman Kacper Tyloch's father Andrzej, also on guitars) just as stunning, but really you can't go wrong with any tracks, marking the only aspect that was truly reaffirmed with equal strength as the previous effort.

However, Frog Bomb appears to trade a bit of Exist's uniqueness for harder-hitting, but less distinct tracks – tracks that I can't help but think of as mere vehicles for the shredding, instead of killer proper songs with mindblowing solos on top like on the debut. Hell, most of them even end shortly after the respective solo, so it's safe to say I'm not that off track. None are to be considered bad, mind you, and the opener and title-track marks an early highlight with its smooth intro and outro nicely rounding off the whole thing, but it's also true that very few surprises wait for you outside of the lead sections, no Terminalist-esque blackened sections, no catchy refrains, and so forth. It's no wonder that the instrumental cut 'Swamp Sonata' (not a Kalmah outtake) is easily one of the better picks, a wonderfully constructed composition with skill and gusto, great stuff all around.

Based upon this last sentence, it might also seem I'm implicitly criticizing Tyloch's vocals, which I'd already considered a possible flaw of In The Void We Last. That was not my intention, but his evolution in this department was for the worst, sadly. While, in retrospect, his previous performance at least gave a different character to the music, he's now closer to your everyday modern thrash screamer. He hasn't totally abandoned his half-clean approach, for all intents and purposes, but there aren't even that many memorable melodies around, with the only 'Crown Of Tears' trying to do something in this regard – but even then, it's still no match for 'Chained'.

It's with a half-broken heart, then, that I announce that Frog Bomb is merely a very good album, but surely not the graduation with flying colours I was expecting from Exist after their incredible debut, which set such impressive standards for riffs and solos, not to mention fresh songwriting, that the guys themselves seem to have fallen victims of them. Easily recommended, but not without spinning In The Void We Last before or after it, unless you, dunno, basically hate metal?

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Greg on July 17, 2024.

With no hyperbole whatsoever, the upcoming album by the young and unknown Polish thrashers in Exist was literally my most anticipated release of the whole current year. After all, their debut LP In The Void We Last was, in short, a lightning in a bottle moment of balls-out thrash with a boatload of naive energy and jaw-dropping technicality, and I was, and still am, simply enthusiastic about it – easily the most unsung highlight of 2021. Go track it right now, nothing you might be doing at the moment could be a better way to spend your next half an hour. We'll catch up later.

Ready now? Fantastic. Let's move on to the review.

Thus, after three years and a couple of lineup changes that lowered the group's average age even more (new shredder Tymek Zadrożny is merely 18), we are now confronted with the guys' second instalment with Frog Bomb. I didn't know what to make of the theme, also reflected in titles such as 'Eco-Friendly Crocs' or 'Frogs And Hoes', but the couple title+artwork (which may or may not have been generated with AI) looked killer enough not to care too much about it... even though I was moderately worried about whether or not they could have managed to recapture said lightning twice. Without further ado, well, I'd be inclined to say no. Time to explain why, then? Well, that's not to discredit the quality of the riffs (the vertiginous 'I Am Eternal' and 'Unite' have plenty of the good shit, to say), and especially not the always immaculate soloing, of course – almost each song contains a solo that would easily be the career highlight of many bands around. The one in 'Crown Of Tears' is astonishing, and the one on the closer (a cover of an obscure '90s Polish band that starred frontman Kacper Tyloch's father Andrzej, also on guitars) just as stunning, but really you can't go wrong with any tracks, marking the only aspect that was truly reaffirmed with equal strength as the previous effort.

However, Frog Bomb appears to trade a bit of Exist's uniqueness for harder-hitting, but less distinct tracks – tracks that I can't help but think of as mere vehicles for the shredding, instead of killer proper songs with mindblowing solos on top like on the debut. Hell, most of them even end shortly after the respective solo, so it's safe to say I'm not that off track. None are to be considered bad, mind you, and the opener and title-track marks an early highlight with its smooth intro and outro nicely rounding off the whole thing, but it's also true that very few surprises wait for you outside of the lead sections, no Terminalist-esque blackened sections, no catchy refrains, and so forth. It's no wonder that the instrumental cut 'Swamp Sonata' (not a Kalmah outtake) is easily one of the better picks, a wonderfully constructed composition with skill and gusto, great stuff all around.

Based upon this last sentence, it might also seem I'm implicitly criticizing Tyloch's vocals, which I'd already considered a possible flaw of In The Void We Last. That was not my intention, but his evolution in this department was for the worst, sadly. While, in retrospect, his previous performance at least gave a different character to the music, he's now closer to your everyday modern thrash screamer. He hasn't totally abandoned his half-clean approach, for all intents and purposes, but there aren't even that many memorable melodies around, with the only 'Crown Of Tears' trying to do something in this regard – but even then, it's still no match for 'Chained'.

It's with a half-broken heart, then, that I announce that Frog Bomb is merely a very good album, but surely not the graduation with flying colours I was expecting from Exist after their incredible debut, which set such impressive standards for riffs and solos, not to mention fresh songwriting, that the guys themselves seem to have fallen victims of them. Easily recommended, but not without spinning In The Void We Last before or after it, unless you, dunno, basically hate metal?

Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 30, 2021.

In the German metal press, there are some voices that have nothing better to do than to lecture the readers day in and day out about the thrash metal revival. Then I learn with growing astonishment that the majority of the current thrashers are only epigones who revive the classics of the old heroes in minimally varied form without their own performance. A few pages further, the new record of some traditionally oriented heavy or power metal formation is celebrated. They are certainly more innovative than the protagonists of the new thrash wave...

Kiss my ass. Of course, there are pronounced differences in quality in the current scene, but where do they not exist? In any case, Ravager are among the really strong representatives of the younger generation. Admittedly, the artwork is again an insult to every person who puts a minimal artistic demand on a painting. But also, here applies kiss my ass. Because the music, which bursts out of the boxes after the tension-building, good intro, has everything that an album of this style needs. In case anyone doesn't know the ingredients for a tasty thrash menu yet, here they come again for the taking. Already 'Mindblender' exudes straightforward enthusiasm and just the right amount of musical force, energy and cutting guitars. Here, once again, the seeds of Exodus and their peers are planted, as evidenced not only by the destructive chorus. The following title track underlines the good start. I like black thrash, but the pure form of the style that characterized albums like "Forbidden Evil" or "Eternal Nightmare" has of course the charm of the original. Ravager indulge in the purity of the genre and deliver a typical (and therefore wonderful) thrash release.

Ravager find to a great extent a very stable balance between attack and melody. The entire first half of the album impresses with compositional class, exciting song patterns and - of course - the carefree, tremendous power with which a thrash record stands and falls. At the beginning of the second half, the Germans then venture into an almost nine-minute number. That is a difficult undertaking in thrash. Exodus were successful with "Like Father, Like Son" (also at the beginning of the B side), but there are counterexamples that show that a crisp, short playing time can be the better choice for the genre represented here. Ravager don't do anything wrong with 'Slaughter Of Innocents', but a tightening to 6 - 7 minutes wouldn't have hurt the track either. By the way, the content is about My Lai. There the US Army did a very thorough job on March 16, 1968, but afterwards they didn't want to remember it, as you can hear in the intro to the song. A phenomenon that was also widespread in Germany after 1945. These military men... one can only marvel.

After the epic Vietnam Song, the band can't quite match the class of the first tracks. Nevertheless, the guys clearly do more right than wrong, and the excellent production brings the scratchy guitars as well as the slightly hysterical, but never shrill organ of the singer excellently to its advantage. With 'Kill For Nothing' the band manages to hit one last bull's eye, even if the speed is unfortunately slowed down a bit in the chorus. On the other hand, the guitars drill holes into the nerves of anyone who doesn't like this sound - and that is definitely praiseworthy. Therefore, in conclusion, a nice greeting to parts of the guys who write for the metal magazines: stop feasting on some bullshit or kiss my ass (again, I'm sorry) and find another job. You won't discover a more honest, energetic and powerful form of metal than thrash.

Rating: 8.1 out of 10

Review by JD on February 20, 2009.

I sit in front of my computer, pondering how to explain this Greek metal powerhouse that calls itself Dark Vision. I carefully listen to the five song EP I have been given, and now I feel that the words are finally there... and the way is clear on how to explain to the metal mad masses about this Greek metallic explosion.

Dark Vision are a unique mix of extreme Death Metal, damming Black Metal sounds and throw in the oddly razor sharpness of mid-career VoiVod (akin to the 1987 release: "Killing Technology"). I was stunned and also very elated all at once, my senses were battered and bruised by assaulting guitars while those low frequency subterranean bulldozing bass riffs soothed my metal starved heart.

Those vocals... oh damn, let me tell you about these deliciously evil sort of vocals (by lead singer Giannis N). They were gloriously guttural and sandpaper harsh as they were thrown out there with hate fuelling each note that this man could have squeezed out of himself. It was like he was giving every last drop of blood he had in his body to catapult these words out. The last part of the equation was the drums, which sounded like they were the pulse of Satan himself. This is exactly what I had been craving.

They were engaging, volcanically so superb... simply put, they were great. Dark Vision are what the Death/Black metal crossover genre is all about... and it shows how bands like this are bringing it forward and kicking ass at the same time. All of these new bands are cutting a swath through metal right now and are thankfully killing all of the false music that are stupid enough to get in their way.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Review by JD on February 20, 2009.

I sit in front of my computer, pondering how to explain this Greek metal powerhouse that calls itself Dark Vision. I carefully listen to the five song EP I have been given, and now I feel that the words are finally there... and the way is clear on how to explain to the metal mad masses about this Greek metallic explosion.

Dark Vision are a unique mix of extreme Death Metal, damming Black Metal sounds and throw in the oddly razor sharpness of mid-career VoiVod (akin to the 1987 release: "Killing Technology"). I was stunned and also very elated all at once, my senses were battered and bruised by assaulting guitars while those low frequency subterranean bulldozing bass riffs soothed my metal starved heart.

Those vocals... oh damn, let me tell you about these deliciously evil sort of vocals (by lead singer Giannis N). They were gloriously guttural and sandpaper harsh as they were thrown out there with hate fuelling each note that this man could have squeezed out of himself. It was like he was giving every last drop of blood he had in his body to catapult these words out. The last part of the equation was the drums, which sounded like they were the pulse of Satan himself. This is exactly what I had been craving.

They were engaging, volcanically so superb... simply put, they were great. Dark Vision are what the Death/Black metal crossover genre is all about... and it shows how bands like this are bringing it forward and kicking ass at the same time. All of these new bands are cutting a swath through metal right now and are thankfully killing all of the false music that are stupid enough to get in their way.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 8
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.6 out of 10