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The Unbeliever

    
       
       
       
     
             
Betrayed are a thrash metal band from Chile, formed by drummer Claudio Tapia in 1987, releasing their debut album '1879 Tales Of War' in 1990. Gaining strong reviews, sadly the band split up in 1994. Tapia reformed the band in 2004, but it would be ten years before a stable line-up was found. The bands first new music in over two decades, was the 2016 single 'Looters Will Be Shot'. More new music was released the following year - the five song E.P. 'The Unbeliever' - and in 2021, the compilation album 'The Unbeliever' was released, featuring the five songs from the bands 2017 E.P. and seven songs from their 1990 debut, re-recorded with the bands current line-up. My review will just focus on the songs as they are now, without any comparisons to how they were.    
             
Fast paced, aggressive, and fierce, Betrayed are a lethal blend of legendary thrash metal bands Overkill, Forbidden, and Heathen - with the melodic thrash style of Testament splattered across the entire 'The Unbeliever' album. The new offering is full to the brim with old school flavour, played at a furious pace, providing ample opportunity for head banging. The twelve songs across fifty two minutes, are brought to life with the blistering 'The Unbeliever' - with its haunting, tension filled intro. Fast paced and aggressive, 'The Unbeliever' (the song) is melodic tinged thrash, similar to such greats as Overkill, Testament, and Flotsam And Jetsam. The blistering pace continues with the rougher edged 'Panic Attack'. The bands singer, Erik Flores, sounds a little like Bobby Ellsworth (vocalist for legends of thrash Overkill), but without the high pitch screech of Ellsworth. The bands 2016 single 'Looters Will Be Shot' is a thrash metal cacophony. Speed, power, and aggression all flow like lava down the side of an erupting volcano - relentless and unstoppable. Betrayed slow down for nothing, keeping the scorching pace at full tilt with 'Constitution (Of The Oppressors)'. If you're looking for good old fashioned old school thrash to blow away cobwebs and clear the mind, you won't go far wrong with this compilation. I know we're only a little way in to the album, but the head bang ability so far has been faultless.    
             
And the neck breaking pace shows no sign of letting up either, as 'Our Option' takes off like a jet fighter off to war. The fastest song heard so far, 'Our Option' is frantic, furious, and full of fire and brimstone. Keeping the old school flavour well and truly alive, 'Fight For Your Land' is a raucous cacophony of thrash, and races forward faster than a formula one race car. 'The First Desillusion' returns the hugely infectious melodic thrash style to the album, picking up the pace and hurtling forth at full tilt. If your neck muscles ain't hurting yet, you ain't head banging hard enough, for there is only one type of head banging associated with this style of thrash - violent! Increasing the brutality and thrashing hard, 'The Message' comes across as a little raw, and very hard hitting. I tell ya - the pace of 'The Unbeliever' (album) has been relentless since it began: no breaks for a breather or to rest aching neck muscles...    
             
...until now! All pace is dropped for the instrumental 'Human Madness', which clocks in at over five minutes in length - the longest song on the album. A more traditional heavy metal flavouring, 'Human Madness' will give listeners and head bangers a little respite from the unstoppable tsunami that is known as Betrayed. Only a little break though, for when 'Human Madness' passes the halfway point, pace is increased and we're back in thrash metal territory. '1879', the title song from the bands 1990 debut, talks about war, death, and the fears of the soldier. It also happens to be the slowest song on offer (insert comical laugh here). When I say slow, it is still fairly high paced and proceeds to scorch the Earth as it races to a conclusion. The opening crescendo to 'The Real Me' is a cracking bit of tension filled thrash, leading to the out and out pace that is the norm for these Chilean thrashers. South American thrash is well known for being brutal and a little extreme, Betrayed not letting the country down. I know this is a compilation, but it would be great to hear some new music from these guys before they hang up their instruments. The self titled 'Betrayed' brings the album to a close in a ferociously frantic manner, with the aggression and brutality levels as high now as they were fifty minutes ago when the album began. Has a compilation album ever made Album Of The Year? 'Cause this one stands a fucking good chance of doing so.    
             
Overall, a neck breaking cacophony of old school thrash metal, full of aggression and menace, all delivered at a blistering pace.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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