The Guilt Parade - Silver Leech (Album Review)

 

Album Type : Full Length

Date Released :  2/10/2012

Label : Sixkiller Records

 

Silver Leech, album tracklist:

01. The Morning star
02. Deathbringer
03. Overlord
04. Resting On Het Bowels
05. Modern Broadway Girl
06. Distorted Smile
07. Wretched
08. Silver Leech
09. Club Bomb
10. The Boy Of Ash And Cigarettes

 

 

Bio

The Guilt Parade’s line-up consists of five dedicated musicians from the south of the Netherlands who like to tear down stages with playing a brutal mix of death metal, thrash metal and metalcore! Brutal, but beautifully intense. So make sure you have a good digestion when watching this band... you can’t really expect these guys singing about spring rolls when playing live.

In 2012 The Guilt Parade released their first full length album called ‘Silver Leech’ on Sixkiller Records. This album was recorded by Erwin Hermsen at the Toneshed Studio

Line Up

Wouter/Tammi - Vocals
Pascal - Guitars
Roel - Guitars
Koen - Bass
Ruud - Drums

Review

The Guilt Parade’s debut album tears through my living room like the North Wind: a bitter, freezing affair that bites through skin and cracks its way into your bones.  ‘Silver Leech’ is the name of the band’s premier record, and it is a mauling, churning force of nature from this five-piece from the Netherlands. 

 

But enough hyperbole: let’s get into it.  The Guilt Parade’s album is a combination of thrash, metalcore and death metal – personally speaking, they sound like a European Superjoint Ritual, and that is just fine with me.  Their statement of intent begins with their brash, chest-beating opener, ‘Morning Star’, which begins with a sawing guitar lick and menacing drums before descending into a full-blown riot of noise.  There’s such chunky, hard-hitting riffs on show here it’s like going into a cage fight.  Best put your war face on for the rest of the album, guys: you’re gonna need it. 

 

As soon as the first track’s done with, we’re propelled straight into the whirling blades of music that make up ‘Deathbringer’, so keep your wits about you or you may end up bleeding from the ears.  This track is filled with heavy riffs, attitude and viper-like vocals, snapping and snarling at you.  The song ends with a lovely soundbite from ‘The Shining’: ‘I’m not gonna hurt ya… I'm just going to bash your brains in…. Gonna bash 'em right the fuck in!’  and when Wendy Torrance whimpers out ‘stay away from me’, it’s already too late for her as the crushing death metal epic that is ‘Overlord’ smashes into our brains like a fire-axe through a wooden door.  It’s that kinda brutal: either step up, or go home. 

 

When ‘Resting on her Bowels’ strides forth, with a riff so chunky it could probably overturn a monster-truck, my eyes close and the music takes me totally.  It’s a brilliant track, a mixture of Down’s chugging intensity and Lamb of God’s bubbling rage: this is musical alchemy, mixed to perfection.  ‘Modern Broadway Girl’ is snarling and filled with anger… and the track itself isn’t too mellow, either!  The breakdown hits like a mortar shell, crashing around you with almost gleeful abandon. 

 

One guitar growls into your left ear… then another guitar answers on the right… the drums make a single statement, a subtle but deliberate reminder of their insidious presence… a tone from the deep rises up: the bass has arrived… now, all too late, you realise you’re surrounded by this menacing wall of sound, and there is no escape.  ‘Distorted Smile’ is a cocky, murderous tune, designed to instil fear in the hearts of those not attuned to the life of a metal head.  Before this song, there should be a warning for the uninitiated: ‘Here Be Evil’. 

 

‘Wretched’ has that unrelenting, galloping quality that means your neck gets quite a workout from all the head banging you’ll do from listening to it.  It’s a short but definitely not sweet tune that leads into the titular track: a heavy, death metal lesson that combines power groove elements with metalcore and just a pinch of punk/hardcore thrown in for good measure. 

 

‘Club Bomb’ – the penultimate track – is another groove-laden bit of metal, as in-your-face as a thrown pint glass in a bar-room brawl.  With its chest-beating choruses and slamming guitars, it’s a bold and brash salute to the metal genre.  When it ends, another sound bite pipes in over the last note of the song: Tim Curry’s plumy tones tell us with teeth-grinding delight ‘I am the eater of worlds… and of children!’ and that’s when album closer ‘The Boy of Ash and Cigarettes’ with a blast of hate-riddled riffs and spitting, sneering vocals.  The sheer aggression on this track makes it less a song and more a bare-knuckle fight to the finish.  When the final note tolls and the album stops spinning, be sure to raise your hand in victory.  ‘Silver Leech’ has given you its best, and you have proved yourself worthy of its masterful riffs and brutal tones.  I have a feeling your new-found love of The Guilt Parade will have you press play again and go for Round 2 straight after. 

Words by : Chris Markwell

 

 

 

As ever, show your support to the band by checking them out at the various links and buying their merch. This record is available for free DD now here and CD here. Thanks Hammerheart records

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