### Battalion: Underdogs

#### 09/03/10 || Khlysty

Hailing from the pastoral environment of Switzerland, Battalion comes in riding the wave of nu-thrash that’s been plaguing the metal world for some years now. Yes, friends and foes, I’m clearly an adversary of this whole thingy called “thrash metal revival”, because, as I have already explained elsewhere, I consider the genre to be deader than a ten-year-old cadaver, rotting or rotted inside a cheap coffin. The fact that some bands from the heyday of thrash continue to churn out records of wildly differing quality does not deter me from almost hating all those new bands that came out during the last few years and still try to persuade me that it’s 1985 and that nothing happened within metal during the last fifteen years.

Which, you know, is a real pity, especially in the case of Battalion. The four-piece from Zurich is pretty tight and enthusiastic, taking their cues from the more aggressive bands from the past and trying as much as possible to update the sound that’s been trademarked by Exodus, Kreator, Testament, Destruction et al, during thrash’s golden years. The production is meaty and with enough clarity, so as the listener can enjoy the shredding mayhem that Battalion bases its music on. The songs generally keep a brisk and headbangly-satisfactory pacing, even when they segue into slower parts, or the move with a more stomp-and-stamp rhythm. Here and there, one will find shades of NWOBHM, whether in the form of twin guitar harmonies, or in the form of more “prog” song structures, but, generally speaking, this is as thrash as it gets.

The vocals of Silvan Etzensperger try mighty to be angry and “evol”, but, well, they obviously lack the venom and sneer that characterized the classic thrash vokillists. The twin guitar attack is commendable for its tightness and shredding prowess, the bass seems to be audible form the most part, and the drums –at least to these ears- sound organic and well-recorded, even if a bit lower in the mix that I would’ve preferred them. The song structure is pretty linear, with either super-moshing parts interspersed with slower breathers, or with huge shout-along choruses and the general feeling pervading the record is one of good fun and some ambition, even if it’s centered around sounding as much “true” to the thrash roots as possible.

And, in my opinion, here lies the rub: even though the songs are pretty exciting and fun, they seriously lack in personality and character. A thrash metal aficionado will be able to find which riff was “lent off” from which band of the past, which influence is more prevalent in every song, where Battalion starts and where they want to go –which, in my opinion, isn’t far enough. Bottom line is that, if one likes his neo-thrash as trad as possible, one will like Battalion. If one doesn’t, well, obviously there are other records one can find something that he enjoys better…

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Silverwolf Productions
- Website: Battalion MySpace
- Band
- Cyril Etzensperger: guitar
- Samuel Riedener: drums
- Silvan Etzensperger: vocals, guitar
- Lukas Marti: bass

- Tracklist
- 01. Thrash maniacs
- 02. Headbangers
- 03. Running alone
- 04. Wings of a demon
- 05. T.F.F.M.
- 06. Bullets & death
- 07. Stalingrad
- 08. Interlude
- 09. Beggars’ right
- 10. Dictators of stone
- 11. Defenders