Review by Vladimir on February 26, 2024.

From the distant Baltic states, we have a very nice surprise coming in the form of a Lithuanian black/thrash/speed metal band Night Slasher from Vilnius, with their independent self-titled debut full-length album Night Slasher, released on February 6th, 2024. If you are looking for a banging soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic future engulfed in flames and chaos, then you have come to the right place my friends!

Without a second to waste or any unnecessary build-up, the album already starts to rip and tear with the opening track 'Ice' by coming in full speed ahead with thrashing guitar riffs, d-beat drums and harsh shouting vocals that altogether annihilate everything that moves, which goes even crazier and more aggressive on the second half of the song when we get double-bass drumming and a shredding guitar solo. When the following bangers such as 'Black Trip' and 'Clyster Lizard' come to play, the band is still locked and loaded for a bonus round of black/thrash/speed metal destruction that just gets even heavier, more intense and more insane as the album progresses. You'd think that with such an introduction and constant thrashing, that the album would probably take a short break before jumping into action and rapid fire, but you would be wrong, dead wrong in fact! Although tracks such as 'Liver Ripper' and 'Ablaze' start off slowly and more relaxed just for a moment, it’s only a calm before the storm that continues slashing all the way through. There are however a couple of tracks that could be considered as somewhat of stylistic departures on the album for a couple of reasons. The seventh track 'Tower' is somewhat exceptional for including mid-tempo rhythm as opposed to d-beat or double-bass drumming, plus it has a slightly more melodic harsh vocals, but all of that certainly does not drop the ball even for a fracture of a second, because the album is still going strong. The final track 'Satan In The Hall' is the one that mostly differentiates from the rest for being more of a standard and almost uplifting thrash metal song, but on the sidenote, it does give this album a powerful conclusion.

No matter how much of a raw energy or rough musicality you’ll experience on this album, you will see that the album has a very strong dynamic songwriting where everything feels in place and that certainly holds your attention all the way through without skipping a single track or fast forwarding to the next one. Speaking of progression, this album has a big sense of progression where the songs would get even heavier and more extreme, plus the songwriting on some songs feels much richer and stronger. Judging by the dystopian cover art done by Mindaugas Mališauskas, the album really has that sort of post-apocalyptic feel to it that was just amped up with the aggressive output of Night Slasher, where you really get a sense that everything has been wrecked apart and it’s just going worse from here. Something that really caught my eye about that artwork is the strong aquatic lake blue tone of the sky and background that is unusual but a very unique feature that somewhat compliments the musical output of the band. Speaking of how this album sounds as a whole, it has a very strong and heavy modern sound production that amps up the performance from the guitars and bass but without leaving out the vocals and drums lying in the background. So overall, it’s pretty decent.

I guess I have stumbled upon a very interesting revelation for an oldschool black-thrashing maniac such as myself, always on the lookout to find some goods that will satisfy my appetites. Night Slasher’s debut is an example of a simplistic approach taken to all the extremes without allowing itself to waste a single second, going all in and out with heavy bangers that just deserve to be blasted at full volume. For fans of bands such as Hellripper and Midnight, I highly recommend that you check out Night Slasher from Lithuania, because it will be a blast.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10