### Hirax: The new age of terror

#### 02/03/11 || revenant

Unleash the dogs of war. Unleash the dogs of war. Unleash the dogs of war. OPEN THE GATES.

Fuck my arse with a spiked truncheon if that is not one of the most catchy fucken choruses ever written. And who was the devious bastard who came up with the idea of putting that track last on the album so that the bloody thing sticks with you hours after you’ve heard it? Damn them and damn this catchy fucken track.

But wait, I’m starting at the end of the album, let’s hit rewind for a second. Hirax started thrashing out back in 1985 with their debut album “Raging Violence”, released a second album in 1986, and a couple of singles in 1987 before performing a disappearing act. Fast forward to the year 2000 and Hirax re-emerge with the EP “El Diablo Negro”. A couple more EPs were released before Hirax finally put together their third full-length “The New Age of Terror”. Now hit play.

Wait, before you hit play, turn the volume up fucking loud, especially if you dig catchy thrash. Because that’s what you get with Hirax’s third effort, tremendously catchy thrash with some ace riffs. Rhetorical question: how fucking good is the riff to the title track? I’ll tell you how good: so awesome I could listen to that track all day, every day, for three weeks straight. Damn that’s some great shit right there.

One thing that stands out as distinct on this album is the vocals. Katon De Pena has a very unique voice. Quite high, and a little raspy, but still damn fine to listen to. He’s one of those vocalists from the 80s who took a more operatic singing approach to vocals (as opposed to the modern approach to thrash vocals). He doesn’t quite deliver to the same extent nowadays, but still has the high notes in his artillery and uses them a fair bit in between snarls.

Aside from the above mentioned “Unleash the Dogs of War” and “The New Age of Terror”, there are a bunch of other killer, catchy thrash monsters on this album, namely “Kill Switch”, “Hostile Territory”, “Swords of Steel” and “Hell on Earth”. All of these songs will creep into your conscious at some stage and have you humming their riff or singing their chorus. Unfortunately the rest of the album is a bit more on the filler side, and doesn’t quite reach up to the same dizzying heights of those named tracks. “Massacre of the innocent” is an intro track that leads nowhere, “El Diablo Negro” is a stop start affair and the others are pretty generic.

All in all though, if you are a thrash fan then I recommend this disc as one you need to acquire. It’s not a complete album nor is it a classic, but the highs are definitely worth the price of entry. Now for fuck’s sake, unleash the dogs of war, OPEN THE GATES.

- Information
- Released: 2004
- Label: Black Devil Records
- Website: www.blackdevilrecords.com
- Band
- Katon W. De Pena: vocals
- Glenn Rogers: guitars
- Dave Watson: guitars
- Angelo Espino: bass
- Jorge Iacobellis: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Kill Switch
- 02. Hostile Territory
- 03. The New Age of Terror
- 04. Swords of Steel
- 05. Into the Ruins
- 06. Massacre of the Innocent
- 07. Hell on Earth
- 08. Suffer
- 09. El Dia de los Muertos
- 10. El Diablo Negro
- 11. Unleash the Dogs of War