Vendetta is a thrash metal band from Germany formed in 1984, enjoying a forty-year career. The band’s debut album ‘Go And Live … Stay And Die’ was released in 1987 with the much admired and influential follow-up ‘Brain Damage’, emerging in 1988. The band dissolved in 1990, resurrected after a decade of silence by founding member (bass player) Klaus ‘Heiner’ Ullrich – assembling a new line-up and releasing the band’s third album ‘Hate’ in 2007. Two more albums followed – ‘Feed The Extermination’ (2007) and ‘The 5th’ (2017) – with the band releasing their sixth album ‘Black As Coal’ an amazing thirty-six years after their debut!
German thrash metal has always featured brutality and aggression in abundance – take a listen to bands such as Kreator and Sodom to hear what I mean! Yet other bands, such as Tankard and Vendetta, perform a more melodious and speed-orientated brand of thrash. Yes, it’s still brutal and aggressive, but to a lesser extent than either Kreator or Sodom. ‘Black As Coal’ features eleven new songs over a neck-breaking and highly head bang-able fifty-eight minutes, with album opener ‘Shoot To Kill’ up and running quickly, forging a ferocious path across the land, slamming listeners with violent intent! Vendetta is back – six years after the band’s previous release – and thrashing as hard as they have ever done, ‘Shoot To Kill’ an impressive six-minute opening salvo. Definitely a bold length for an album opener, the band defy normal convention, storming on with the iconic sound of melodic thrash, courtesy of ‘Stranglehold Of Terror’. And within just two songs, Vendetta have shown both their savage, and melodious sides.
With the album flowing like lava exploding from a volcano, the band thrashs red hot with ‘No Hands But A Gun’ stepping on the accelerator and roaring on! The band are in full flight, ‘No Hands But A Gun’ echoing the classic sound of the eighties thrash metal – and why wouldn’t it? Vendetta is, after all, a band born in the eighties! With aggression and anger creeping into the album as each song passes by, ‘AK-47’ is loaded to the brim with aggressive tendencies – along with the mantle of the fastest song heard so far. And amazingly, the chorus is one helluva chant-able affair, with listeners, fans, followers and concertgoers screaming “AK-47” as loud as they can! The title song ‘Black As Coal’ slows the pace to the mid-stomping Megadeth style of thrash, Vendetta maintaining the incredible intensity the album opened with. The band are on fire, lighting up the world with a brand of aggressive thrash that’s loved by so many – me included! I’m telling ya, this is thrash that I can listen to twenty-fours a day. And to be honest, some days I do!
Maintaining the recent gear change, ‘Time To Change’ is a slow burner, slowly building to an anticipative crescendo, finally letting loose with a savage fire and brimstone feel – Vendetta roaming all around the thrash metal genre to deliver a varied and highly engaging album. An album that’s been addictive right from the off, every song heard so far is deserving of head-banging. The band are a relentless ball of energy, oozing power with every twang and thump, encouraging metalheads everywhere to raise their fists high in the air. And with absolutely no sign of the immense intensity level dropping anytime soon, the band introduced a meaner, more menacing style of thrash metal – ‘Death Means Relief’ emitting a darker feel than everything heard so far. But when the band stepped on the gas! Fuck me! Headbang ability goes through the fucking roof, ‘Death Means Relief’ turning into an out bruiser with some of the fastest shredding on offer! Returning the melodic thrash metal feel from earlier, ‘Cheap Death’ is a glorious mix of traditional metal and thrash, planting one foot firmly on the monitor and banging heads hard! A few times throughout the album, Vendetta has stood tall and proud on the border between thrash and heavy metal, pleasing equally the fans of both genres.
Injecting energy and pace, the band storm on with the phenomenal ‘Pallbearer’, bashing listeners round the head with a savagery not heard for a couple of songs, Vendetta giving us a timely reminder that they are a thrash metal band rooted in brutality, aggression and speed. And I, for one totally agree – as I’m sure you do too! Heading into the final stretch, ‘For Dear Life’ takes on the ambience of doom metal, featuring a much cleaner vocal delivery than at any other point on the album – the band experimenting with their sound and exploring new horizons. Not too much, though, for the band’s overall sound is definitely rooted in the thrash metal arena. Bringing the album to a close is the longest song on offer, the seven-minute-long ‘Beast In Her Eyes’, featuring everything the band have in their arsenal, from epic and atmospheric to old school savagery and beyond, ‘Beast In Her Eyes’ rounds off a fine hour of intensity and head-bang ability.
Overall, it is a fast-paced, head-bangable and thoroughly enjoyable slab of thrash metal with an immense infectious level.
TRACKLIST
Shoot To Kill
Stranglehold Of Terror
No Hands But A Gun
AK-47
Black As Coal
Time To Change
Death Means Relief
Cheap Death
Pallbearer
For Dear Life
Beast In Her Eyes
Vendetta: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Massacre Records
Category: Album
Country: Germany
Reviewed by Iron Mathew for Frenzy Fire and Metal-Roos.
