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Drone

Head-On Collision

Written by: PP on 29/03/2007 23:35:01

Germany's Drone has been around for just a couple of years but have already experienced more than most bands from their genre do in a decade. They've won Wacken Open Air International Metal Battle competition, performed at the finals of the well-known Emergenza talent festival, and now released their debut album "Head-On Collision", full of bridges between old school Bay-area thrash and modern americanized metal.

The album opener "Theopractical" is a beast of a song, hitting you with full speed classic late 80s thrash riffs that have been modernized to have relevance today through little gimmicks and hooks. The riffs slay here in the truest meaning of the word, and though they aren't as technical as Slayer's, they still avail with similar speeds and originality that sees drool drip from any metalhead's mouth. Vocalist Mutz Hempel sounds like a modernized version of Araya, pissed off as hell but not afraid to release a couple of Metalcore-ish screams, though most of the music distances itself from the genre almost entirely. Exceptions are "In The End" and "Jericho", and while neither are as thrashy as they are hard rockish influenced metalcore (think Seether gone more metal here), they work as some of the best songs on the album without sacrificing the integrity of their sound.

Most of "Head-On Collisions" creates nostalgic notions in your mind. Whether it's Slayer or old school Metallica, Seether or new school Sepultura, the music here bridges gap between old and new to form something that catches on relatively easily, but still has to be played loudly or otherwise the effect is lost on you. If Drone doesn't get your head nodding at ear-numbing volumes, the whole thrash genre is probably lost on you anyway. A very promising debut.

Download: Jericho, Theopratical, Welcome To The Pit
For the fans of: Slayer, Seether, Sepultura, Metallica
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.02.2007
Armageddon Music