Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Vendetta
Label: Massacre Records
Release: 2017
Length: 39:31
Rating: 2.5/5
Vendetta, the German Teutonic metallers, are back with the aptly titled fifth studio album »The 5th«. They debuted way back in 1987, and their follow-up, the cult album »Brain Damage« from 1988, counts as something of a classic of that somewhat hidden, or let’s say »underground,« branch of European thrash metal that had to bow to the supremacy of the big three (Destruciton, Kreator, Sodom). The cover isn’t exactly a fresh or particularly clever idea. It’s obvious that it shows a »Mr. Hyde« version of Ludwig Van Beethoven, writing and composing the blackest continuation of his fifth symphony, and it even brings to mind the cover of Exodus’ »Tempo of The Damned«. Still, at first glance it does just what it should. You know the feeling: you put the album on and the spirit of the old school jumps out, with relic-like, rustic vistas that are supposed to knock nostalgically on the hearts of older fans of traditional, first-wave European thrash metal too.
As co-shapers of the Teutonic thrash trail, Vendetta still have to concede the supremacy of their contemporaries, even after the reunion and the new album. It’s their first in 23 years, after Hate, the follow-up »Feed the Extermination« and now the new »The 5th«. Those contemporaries have a far more notorious reputation, and their new releases do justice to the output of the eighties that got their names written in capital letters in the world of thrash metal. Vendetta play considerably differently today than they did in the eighties. Everyone waiting for a ragged, razor-sharp, jagged-to-the-bone, frothing Teutonic thrash metal platter will have to »dance to gentler beats« this time, which will challenge the best career moments of Kreator, Sodom or Destruction in vain. In that respect, »The 5th« won’t make you happy, not by a long shot.
»The 5th« is, admittedly, a more-than-exemplary varied album in terms of riffs and music. For what the average thrash metal fan wants and expects, though, it’s too varied. The opener Fragile, with an intro nearly a minute and a half long, develops into something that’s easier to compare with the idiom of Megadeth, even early Metallica, than with anything that would spring from the razor-toothed elements of European thrash metal fury. The song is balanced by an (expressive) and extremely interesting guitar riff, which the band cleverly exploits in the song’s rhythmic shifts. An impressive start that fills you with hope that full-blooded Teutonic menace and fury will follow.
Interestingly, after the slip of flirting with the Kreator formula on Let ‘er Rip (the album returns there later too, e.g. Agency of Liberty), it’s only the third song in a row, Deadly Sin, or rather its opening guitar riff, that stirs that real feeling of »primitivism, or origin« of true thrash metal aggression, which is in short supply on this album. Toward the end of the album the impressive Religion Is a Killer brings that feeling back. Only here can you find a link to the band’s creativity captured on their unforgettable album »Brain Damage«, and the Danish band Artillery even sneak in fleetingly among the associations. Even though the album tries hard to bite aggressively, as I said, the Teutonic thrash metal aggression on the new albums of the band’s contemporaries is delivered far more convincingly, invasively and bitingly.
Vendetta approach music differently today, with more maturity than in the eighties, so it wouldn’t be fair to demand that they clone »Brain Damage«. Even so, this album will knock exclusively on the hearts of retro-nostalgics, while the new generation of metal enthusiasts will pick albums by other bands that serve up far more extremity and brutality from the modern findings of the genre!
»The 5th« is basically a perfectly decent album, but you shouldn’t listen to it through the eyes of a purist who’s looking only for the raw, sneering spirit of Teutonic thrash metal aggression.
Vendetta – Religion Is A Killer (official audio):
Line-up
Mario Vogel – vocals
Frank Heller – guitar
Michael Opfermann – guitar
Klaus “Heiner” Ullrich – bass, rhythm guitar
Thomas “Lubber” Krämer – drums
Production
Vendetta & Dominik Bertelt
Track list
1. Fragile
2. Let ‘er Rip
3. Deadly Sin
4. Agency Of Liberty
5. The Search
6. The Prophecy
7. Shame On You
8. Religion Is A Killer
9. Nevermind
