Maleficium

First and final full-length album from Greek band Carnal Dread, “Maleficium” condenses their distinctive vision of blackened thrash metal into a legacy well worth discovering, delivering eight compositions packed with aggression, darkness and an obvious devotion to old-school extreme metal. With “Maleficium”, Carnal Dread developed an especially raw and direct approach, built around razor-sharp riffs, fast-paced rhythms and a powerful performance that consistently reflects their strong influence from the most primitive strains of thrash.

Tracks such as “Maleficium”, “Coven of the Nine Angles”, “Stranded in Gehenna” and “Dagger of Siege” showcase a formula based on incisive guitars, tempo changes and harsh vocals, while “Drink of Lethe's Waters” and “Lashing Hex of Reprisal” maintain the intensity throughout. The album closes with a cover of “My Belief” by Possessed, a fitting tribute to one of the bands that played a fundamental role in the evolution of thrash towards more extreme territory. An interesting piece of the Greek underground from the mid-2010s for devotees of blackened thrash and old-school extreme metal.