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With Murderous Intent

    
       
       
       
     
             
Blacklist are a thrash metal band from the UK formed in 2018 releasing the bands debut album 'Disciples Of Time' in 2021, and sophomore album 'With Murderous Intent' in 2024...    
             
...featuring ten songs across a blistering fifty ferocious minutes! The bands abrasive brand of thrash sizzles with raw energy, neck breaking head bang ability and vocals ranging from a howling roar to black metal screeches and screams! And while not fully a concept album, 'With Murderous Intent' is "a celebration of horror, of the murderers and monsters that have stared down at us from cinema screens" - just see how many you can recognise! The Lancashire four-piece are on fucking fire, the bands line-up consisting of Tyler Larkin (vocals, guitars), Curtis Goodyear (bass), Matt Mcloughlin (guitars), and Matthew Longshaw (drums) - the album an unforgiving and unrelenting thrash metal onslaught in the vein of legendary bands such as Exodus, Slayer and Vio-Lence - 'With Murderous Intent' storming into life at a hundred fucking miles an hour with the fiercely fast paced 'Cannibal'. And a howling, snarling vocal performance that's gonna send shivers down the spine of every listener, the band flying at full tilt to deliver a terrorising opening salvo!    
             
What an absolute screamer of an opener, Blacklist powered up, fully fuelled and ready to roar - 'Blood Baptism' hitting the ground with the weight of a tonne of a bricks! Well actually, more like ten tonnes of bricks, the mighty foot stomping style of thrash creating devastation wherever 'Blood Baptism' may roam! The band are a little Slayer-like here, the major difference being the vocal screech of singer Larkin - it's totally terrifying! Take cover readers, it's gonna get ya, no matter how far! A sizzling brace to wreck the necks of every head banger around the world, 'With Murderous Intent' strides on with increased speed and even more head bang ability courtesy of the red hot scorcher 'The Shape'. The band are breaking the sound barrier here - and for all you fact fans out there, in order to break the sound barrier you need to be travelling in excess of 750 miles an hour! And boy does it feel like it - I've head banged so hard since the album began, my glasses have flown off twice! Make that three times now - 'Nostromo' entering the fray with just as much energy, power and force as everything heard so far! And there's also a hint at the traditional metal gallop in there too, 'Nostromo' straddling the border wall between thrash and heavy metal.    
             
And it's with a short mellow but haunting intro that Blacklist launch 'Kill The Coroner' with, the eerie, tension filled atmosphere almost unbearable - the band maintaining a mid tempo, thundering foot stomp that's gonna break bones and crush skulls! So beware readers and listeners, you have been warned! At at just two minutes forty seconds in length, 'The Dismemberment Blade' is the shortest song on offer - but by crikey it's also the fastest! Blacklist are firing on all cylinders here, rocketing forward at phenomenal speed - good luck trying to keep up with the band in regards to banging your head! It may prove futile, but it's gonna be great fucking fun trying! And with absolutely no sign of a breather from the unforgiving thrash metal onslaught, 'Naturom Demonto' increases the speed even more! For at least the first fifty seconds or so anyway, before an Annihilator-ish gallop takes front and centre as Blacklist continue to savagely bludgeon listeners with a brutal blend of thrash, death and black metal! And clocking in at six minutes in length, 'Naturom Demonto' is a raging firestorm of gear and tempo changes with immense head bang ability!    
             
Traditional heavy metal raises it's immense stature once again as 'Lethal Injection' surges forth with a guitar tone and riff that smells ever so strongly of the iconic NWOBHM evolution - Blacklist opening up their music to metallers as well thrashers! However, as 'Lethal Injection' progresses, the bands root thrash metal sound takes over to switch the songs identity and resume the savage beating 'With Murderous Intent' is dishing out - a beating so savage you may never sleep again! And with another short mellow intro that builds into one helluva menacing crescendo, 'Never Sleep Again' breaks loose at a minute and a half to become a searing rampage of high velocity thrash - the kinda thrash that'll stretch neck muscles to breaking point! And beyond! The albums final song, the title song 'With Murderous Intent', is the longest song on offer, clocking in at eight minutes in length! And what a song! Everything the band have in their locker is on show here - Blacklist speeding through the albums final hurrah at sensational speed to leave the sound barrier a long way behind!    
             
Overall, a blistering display of ferocity and aggression, 'With Murderous Intent' is foot to the floor thrash metal with immense head bang ability.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
Review is also featured at Metal-Roos    
             
             
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