Hailing from Mexico, Strike Master (cliché, but cool name) play decent thrash with a bit of a groovy side to it. I'm reminded of some of the early 2000s bands that were kind of on the accessible side and getting a lot of love and hate, what eventually became known as "modern thrash." With that said, overall Death Based Illusions has enough good ideas and variety to keep things interesting even if there are some passages that will not appeal to the purest crowd. The vocals are cleanly sung yet harsh enough and sometimes make up for relatively tame music where I can't help but think about the more melodic stylings of progressive thrash. So, there's a lot going on in the short length of this EP and I've found myself both liking and disliking it depending on what the band are up to at any given moment. If you're into modern thrash, you'll likely find something to like here.
