Review by Greg on June 25, 2024.

Kobold is an entity easy to overlook, concealed behind their cartoonish aesthetics and not overtly serious attitude, but I wouldn't recommend sleeping on this amazing band to anybody. After a juvenile debut, already this sophomore Masterpace is a much more accurate showcase of their innate abilities that solidified them as one of my favourite revival thrash outfits around – one more hailing from the Serbian borders, to boot, yet having few things in common with my beloved Quasarborn, beyond being both based in the country capital Belgrade, and Luka Matković's reappearing at the production desk, meaning we'll get another killer-sounding album regardless of the end result. Let's dive into it, then.

From the first notes of the title-track and opener, we sure are in for a threat. The rhythm department was totally revamped, and even more than the incessant blast beats courtesy of Marko Stefanović, it's the bassist upgrade that deserves the spotlight, as Stefan Stanojević simply does whatever he wants around the songs. The song itself is way more extreme than the speed-infused early days, with the riffing often trespassing black, or at least blackened death, territory, and also frequent growls as the best counterpart to main man Elio Rigonat's unhinged vocals. There's even a 'Left Hand Path'-style melodic coda as a very welcome plus. Overall, it's safe to say it eats the whole Death Parade for breakfast. Despite having opened the album with its most plausible MVP, though, the most admirable thing is that Kobold still find a way to keep the quality level sky high with the subsequent 'Deus Ex' and 'Ad Astra' – if I had a nickel for every time they used a Latin title, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice (three times if we count the subpar 'Vertigo's etymology, by extension). Same recipe, same end result, same fair share of curveballs, like the visionary bass solo of the former, or the sung bridge of the latter – as also closer 'Fractured' reaffirms, as a perfect compendium of everything heard before. 'Blood Drops' is another experiment with a softer track, at least in its first half, and while it should have deserved a less shrill vocal performance, the piano and guitar parts are way more beautiful than they have any right to be, although not lasting long before getting back to the massacre.

And then there's 'Thrash Overlords'. I'm pretty sure you know some of those elaborated, thought-out albums that however arrive at one point where the band goes, 'you know what, fuck it, let's just rip shit up' and records the most pissed off, over-the-top riffs they manage to conjure, slaps a name to them and calls it a track, right? 'Thrash Overlords' is exactly that, the 'Serial Killer', or 'Suicide Command', of Masterpace. A less serious detour, but also a rhythm guitar seminar. Last time I put it in my car stereo I touched 100 mph with my hatchback, so, um, let's just say it knows how to convey its message.

Masterpace marks a staggering rebound from the unripe, crude speed/thrashing of Death Parade, to the point that it almost seems like a totally different band (although yeah, most of it is). I don't have a fixed recipe for a killer album, but when a band manages to cram this much stuff into an album, sound terrific in the process, and still wrap up the whole package in less than 40 minutes, you can bet your sweet ass I'm in. If you have never heard of Kobold and you're reading this, you have no excuses now.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Fernando on September 2, 2019.

From the ashes of Vorum comes Concrete Winds, and members P.J. and Mikko continue where that band left off into a much more chaotic direction with them unleashing the unrelenting and unapologetic Primitive Force.

This album is a master class of pure and raw death metal that near crosses into war metal but make no mistake this is a death metal album, through and through. The aggressive riffs and shredding from Vorum's last EP "Current Mouth" has been dialed up exponentially, the music here is very abrasive and the focus is on speed. The album opens with an explosion and it never lets off the intensity for a second; all the songs are very short and follow the mindset of less is more, making the most out of a short length all the while maintaining a lo-fi “no bullshit” approach that is very punkish in a good way. They manage in keeping a simplicity that also leaves room for innovation in this very aggressive style of death metal. This album’s main ambition is to push forward the extremity of death metal without the need of incorporating blackened elements and the band succeeds in spades.

The lion share of the music is handled by P.J. who handles vocals, guitars and bass. His guitar work is devilishly impressive, showing relentless shredding and tremolo picking, howling and screeching guitar solos which he compliments with a thunderous and pulsating bass; his vocals are also excellent and are a natural evolution from Vorum, his death growls are much more intense and vicious and are much more present than his echoing approach of his past band, and the added layers of echoes succeed in making the vocal work sound much more demonic and wrathful. Mikko’s drumming is no slouch either, he perfectly complements P.J.’s compositions with unswerving force and brutality, while also adding a layer of complexity, giving this album more variety. The songs Tyrant Pulse, Volcanic Turmoil and Transmission is where Mikko truly flexes his talents and as a whole both members give excellent performances that make this album a quick but satisfying trip to hell.

However the album is not without some issues. While this album does succeed in pushing death metal’s extremity to its logical conclusion on repeated listens it can get a bit repetitive; a common trapping of the genre and while the band does make good use of the short time lengths, the album as a whole ends abruptly. The main flaw however is the production. The band purposefully went with a lo-fi approach that does give the music that underground and dissonant vibe that this type of music benefits from but the downside of this is that the music sounds extremely loud and succumbed to the dreaded loudness war, which whether intentional or not makes the album very inaccessible and hard to listen, especially on headphones. All these issues while not a deal breaker to versed metalheads are a major hurdle to overcome if you’re uninitiated on death metal or if you’re accustomed to the cleaner and slicker production on bands like Death or Morbid Anger, if you’re either of those, this album would require multiple listens with the volume lowered.

Overall Concrete Winds have made a killer debut album, continuing their ambitions from where Vorum left off and being its own unique and distinct project with a lot of promise.

Best tracks: 'Sulphuric Upheaval', 'Tyrant Pulse', 'Volcanic Turmoil', 'Death Transmission'

Rating: 8.6 out of 10

Review by Fernando on September 2, 2019.

From the ashes of Vorum comes Concrete Winds, and members P.J. and Mikko continue where that band left off into a much more chaotic direction with them unleashing the unrelenting and unapologetic Primitive Force.

This album is a master class of pure and raw death metal that near crosses into war metal but make no mistake this is a death metal album, through and through. The aggressive riffs and shredding from Vorum's last EP "Current Mouth" has been dialed up exponentially, the music here is very abrasive and the focus is on speed. The album opens with an explosion and it never lets off the intensity for a second; all the songs are very short and follow the mindset of less is more, making the most out of a short length all the while maintaining a lo-fi “no bullshit” approach that is very punkish in a good way. They manage in keeping a simplicity that also leaves room for innovation in this very aggressive style of death metal. This album’s main ambition is to push forward the extremity of death metal without the need of incorporating blackened elements and the band succeeds in spades.

The lion share of the music is handled by P.J. who handles vocals, guitars and bass. His guitar work is devilishly impressive, showing relentless shredding and tremolo picking, howling and screeching guitar solos which he compliments with a thunderous and pulsating bass; his vocals are also excellent and are a natural evolution from Vorum, his death growls are much more intense and vicious and are much more present than his echoing approach of his past band, and the added layers of echoes succeed in making the vocal work sound much more demonic and wrathful. Mikko’s drumming is no slouch either, he perfectly complements P.J.’s compositions with unswerving force and brutality, while also adding a layer of complexity, giving this album more variety. The songs Tyrant Pulse, Volcanic Turmoil and Transmission is where Mikko truly flexes his talents and as a whole both members give excellent performances that make this album a quick but satisfying trip to hell.

However the album is not without some issues. While this album does succeed in pushing death metal’s extremity to its logical conclusion on repeated listens it can get a bit repetitive; a common trapping of the genre and while the band does make good use of the short time lengths, the album as a whole ends abruptly. The main flaw however is the production. The band purposefully went with a lo-fi approach that does give the music that underground and dissonant vibe that this type of music benefits from but the downside of this is that the music sounds extremely loud and succumbed to the dreaded loudness war, which whether intentional or not makes the album very inaccessible and hard to listen, especially on headphones. All these issues while not a deal breaker to versed metalheads are a major hurdle to overcome if you’re uninitiated on death metal or if you’re accustomed to the cleaner and slicker production on bands like Death or Morbid Anger, if you’re either of those, this album would require multiple listens with the volume lowered.

Overall Concrete Winds have made a killer debut album, continuing their ambitions from where Vorum left off and being its own unique and distinct project with a lot of promise.

Best tracks: 'Sulphuric Upheaval', 'Tyrant Pulse', 'Volcanic Turmoil', 'Death Transmission'

Rating: 8.6 out of 10