Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Panikk
Label: Xtreem Music
Release: year_month
Runtime: 40:31
Rating: 4/5
Thrash metal has been enjoying a minor revival over the past year. Not on the scale of a few years ago, when there was a proper thrash boom, but old school veterans Testament, Megadeth, Death Angel, Anthrax and Flotsam and Jetsam (and, conditionally, even Metallica) have all put out excellent or at least solid albums, and the young guard led by Vektor, Warbringer and Havok has surprised with quality records too. The thrash scene at home is just as rich: Lintver, Moshead and Eruption have all released studio albums in recent months, the debut from young Primorska outfit Black Reaper is right around the corner, and a month ago Panikk dropped their second studio album, Discarded Existence.
Four years have passed since the debut Unbearable Conditions, and Panikk have gone through a few lineup changes along the way. Črt Valentić (Mephistophelian) replaced Grega Košmerl behind the drums, and Jaka Črešnar (Battle X) took over from Nejc Nardin on guitar. The swaps brought slight shifts in direction. Panikk are still anchored in the frantic, chaotic thrash that bands like Vio-Lence, Demolition Hammer, Defiance and EvilDead shaped in the eighties, but on Discarded Existence they sound even more brutal and aggressive than on the debut. That’s down to skillfully woven riffs that occasionally reek of death metal, plus lively drumming that Črt spices up here and there with blast beats (Rotten Cells, Reconstruction).
Guitar riffs still hold center stage in the monumental wall of sound of this surgically clean, razor-precise record; this time the Flere/Črešnar duo shovels them out by the fistful, their palette is wildly colorful, and their reliability is merciless, like the shrapnel of everything a tornado has ripped apart on its way. The very clean sound is the main culprit behind how great the record sounds, brutal just enough and full of crunchy guitars whose »crunch« recalls Exodus’ guitar assault (especially the intro to Instigator of War). Discarded Existence is a very homogeneous record with no major departures between tracks, so none of them really lodges in your ears on the first spin, but that gives the album all the more staying power in the long run. The constant sonic barrage, the crushing weight and the mostly high tempos do grate a little, and the record gets slightly monotonous towards the end. Still, there’s no real danger of sameness, since the album is highly dynamic and Panikk smartly break up the monotony with bits like the acoustic intro to Rotten Cells and the melodic riffing in Reconstruction.
The sameness is also successfully broken up by the vocals of Gašper Flere, who, hand on heart, is far from a top-tier singer with a huge range, but that doesn’t bother in the slightest, since vocals stylistically reminiscent of Kurt Brecht (D.R.I.) and Sean Killian (Vio-Lence) add great extra weight to the brutal groove of Panikk’s instrumental side. With a vocal style that’s rarely imitated in thrash, such furious, rabid spewing of socially critical and fatalistic themes comes across even more effectively, even if he can stumble a little over some of the lyrics here and there. There’s no danger of the vocals turning monotonous either, as Gašper uses effective tricks to spice up his vocal lines, like the screams in Rotten Cells, which even recall the retching of John Tardy (Obituary).
Thanks to the superb cover art by the talented Mario Lopez, the comparison suggests itself – »Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,« said Panikk after landing in a gloomy dystopian world ruled with an iron fist by a totalitarian leader, crooked politicians, evil corporations and rotten capitalism. Basically just a mirror of our own world, then, and Panikk fight back with the raw thrash metal of Discarded Existence, which puts them in an even better light than the debut did.
Lineup
Gašper Flere – vocals, guitar
Rok Vrčkovnik – bass
Jaka Črešnar – guitar
Črt Valentić – drums
Production
Panikk and Domen Hudrap
Tracklist
1. Instigator of War
2. Sedated In Utopia
3. Under Pretence
4. Individual Right
5. Rotten Cells
6. Discarded Existence
7. Eyes Don’t Lie
8. Reconstruction
9. Outro
