Raw Rapid Aggressive

8 Tracks
28:50
3.5 /5
Rating
Written by MetalMike
Published February 27, 2023

I sure do love these limited print run cassette releases you can find on Bandcamp. Raw Rapid Aggression is the debut album from Greece's Hailsteel, a band that's been in existence since 2015 but hasn't released anything (according to Metal Archives, anyway) before now. They play speedy, thrashy metal with bashing drums, spiteful vocals and squealing guitars. They've got a surprisingly pronounced bottom end with the bass and kick drums a lot more forward in the mix than is typical from speed/thrash metal. It's a refreshing change from the high-end squeal a lot of music in this subgenre has, but it also takes away from the immediacy of the riffs, so a little more balance might have better served Raw Rapid Aggression. The vocals have an early Cronos/James Hetfield style, sometimes low and growly, other times higher and more emphatic, and the music falls somewhere between Welcome to Hell and Kill 'Em All in terms of execution, so nothing terribly new but it's an entertaining first effort and it seems as though, to their credit, Hailsteel might have spent more time practicing, writing, etc. than putting out demos prior to its release. Raw Rapid Aggression sounds like the kind of release a label like Dying Victims or Hells Headbangers would pick up for a CD release, but in the meantime, head over to Hailsteel's Bandcamp page and check it out for some solid early speed/thrash goodness.