Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 11:01 AM by Giorgos Tsekas
Genre: Thrash/Crossover/Epic
Country: U.S.A.
Label: Southern Lord Recordings
Year: 2022
The brainchild of guitarist Ryan McArdle and vocalist Kevin Fitzgerald, High Command return with their sophomore studio full length entitled ‘Eclipse of the Dual Moons’ that follows the excellent in its brutality and catchiness debut ‘Beyond The Wall Of Desolation’ (2019). Under the same label, Southern Lord again, they continue their vision about how Thrash should sound in the 21st Century. I say Thrash you say Crossover, other dare to say it placing prefix the word ‘progressive’ as Prog something, where something can be equal to Hardcore, Thrash, Groove you name it! Whatever sub-genre you can categorize it you can avoid to admit that these guys from Massachusetts are brave enough to write about swords, sorcery and epic, fantasy-themed verses while their sound is closer to Slayer than your average local Thrash band. Of course if the music was a crap the final result would be a total disaster and probably would bring laughter to everyone, but now as the riffs are inspired by Sepultura, early Metallica and Slayer, they are sharp and sounding sometimes straight-forward Thrash, then from in the veins of N.W.O.B.H.M. to early Celtic Frost-esque all mixed with some traditional flourishes then you guess right, we are dealing with a killer album! Small doses of atmospheric parts are giving a somewhat soundtrack aura to the album (even Ennio Morricone hints). ‘Eclipse of the Dual Moons’ is brilliant, perfectly executed 80’s Bay Are Thrash with epic fantasy lyrics that bet your money on that not only old school fan, but also guys who dig Power Trip/Enforced will worship hymns like ‘Imposing Hammers of Cold Sorcery’, ‘Fortified by Bloodshed’, (the 12 minute long epos that closes with the church bell coda) ‘Spire of Secarth’ and ‘Immortal Savagery’.
