There are certain clichés that I take great pleasure in debunking.
So I am going to do it again: “The Big 4”. In Thrash. Now, I am not, especially, a “metal guy” these days. I am 45 years old, I’ll like what I like. So yes Maiden, Saxon, Priest, Sabbath. No, really, to the “new breed” and no, largely to the “Big 4”.
Ok, so I have lost half the readers, the rest of you. Slayer – runs and hides – are basically the AC/DC of thrash. Megadeth, I love but find deathly dull live. Metallica I can take or leave, bar some flashes of brilliance (I don’t think I’ve ever forgiven them for “Lulu” or that drum sound on “St Anger”, in honesty) and Anthrax I loved to bits until Scott Ian, the prick, decided to get 1400 people to boo me because I didn’t do devil horns at a gig in Birmingham at his behest and therefore “didn’t like thrash”. No, Scott, I just think you are a knob, and you can quote me on that.
It seems to me, that the best thrash has nothing to do with them in 2020. Exodus (especially now they got rid of the singer that said some disgraceful things on stage when I saw them live a few years ago). Havok. The wonderful Testament, the incredible Exhorder. That’s the real thrash power in the modern era.
To that, you can add Heathen. Because “Empire Of The Blind” is a wonderful example of what thrash can – and should always – be.
In many ways, Heathen are almost mythical. Like a story you hear of that pops in every decade or so to make a brilliant record before disappearing again. This one is no exception.
The reason for the ten year hiatus this time is largely Exodus related. Founding member Lee Altus and Kragen Lum (who joined in 2007 but is now the main songwriter) are both in Exodus, touring the world, which means this record, even for Heathen, has had a long gestation period.
It’s worth the wait too. This is thrash from the very top echelons. There’s an intro, as there often is on these things, it builds and as it does you know what’s coming. Just as you often do with thrash, but that doesn’t stop it being fabulous when it arrives.
“The Blight” thunders, the guitars slash, and there’s a middle bit that crushes. The title track is a little heavier, a real moshpit inducer, a bit of Warbringer in it, perhaps and the true skill of Lum is that he clearly has a heavier taste than much of the thrash crowd, but he melds it with an absolute understanding of what this music is and should be.
Indeed, “heavy yet accessible” might be the epithet for the whole record. And David White (the other original Heathen as it were) has an almost perfect voice for this, because he sings, not growls, but still rages like he really wants to beat you down. “Please kill me then and pronounce me dead” he offers, in a rather matter of fact way on “Dead And Gone”, but there’s another solo coming in a minute so you don’t even notice.
Picking a highlight is tough, because the quality is so high everywhere, but the light and shade and the menacing chug of “Sun In My Hand” makes it hard to ignore – and it has an epic feel, think Iced Earth and you wouldn’t be a million miles off.
“Blood To Be Let” has a real gallop, and the machine gunning drumming of Jim DiMaria makes “In Black” special, while “The Shrine Of Apathy” is, for want of a better word “the ballad”, that is to say that it enters the pit of despair, just slower and with more vocal harmony.
“Devour” thank the lord not a Shinedown cover, would actually beat Brent Smith into submission for a giggle, and students of this type of thing should gravitate to the genuine masterclass of the instrumental “A Fine Red Mist” which proves you don’t need words to convey anger. “The Gods Divide” – the defacto closer – would, in some bygone and maybe future time – lay waste to any festival field you stuck it in, while “Monument To Ruin” the little outro, as it were, is a chance to take stock and consider the bludgeoning that went before.
“Empire Of The Blind” appears to be a record that everyone concerned has poured over and given everything to. Take this explanation of the artwork from Lum: “I really wanted to show a bleak and dismal visual representation of some of the album’s lyrical themes. Essentially, it is an empire in ruin with the dead blindfolded and still unable to see. The black oil emanating from the skull’s eyes represents all of the negativity accumulated during life. This oil is forming a pool that is starting to drown what’s left of the empire.”
The good news is, though, whether or not you are into the social commentary or just want to hear one of the finest thrash metal records of 2020 this has you covered. The effort was worth it, and so was the wait. Who knows when Heathen will next appear? You can be sure, though, when they do, it’ll be an event – and that people will still, probably, be wittering on about the “Big 4” and other hogwash.
Rating 8.5/10
