Elm
Street took me a bit by surprise, when I checked out this album I was expecting
something far different from this Death meets Thrash Metal album. There’s some
apparent influences/bands I think this sounds like that can totally be pure coincidence,
but influences are always good, it helps people find bands like bands they love
to keep them occupied in that 2+ year wait in between albums normally. So
without holding off any longer, let’s talk about “Knock ‘Em Out... With A Metal
Fist”, the new release from Elm Street.
The
albums three opening tracks are all pretty standard Thrash Metal with some
Death influence, while the opener “Face the Reaper” has sort of a “Fade To
Black” feel in its intro, each song has roughly the same idea. Thrash Metal,
pretty some hooks mixed into the riffs to keep you invested in the songs and a
sort of Melodic Death Metal infusion into the style keeps to first 15-20
minutes of the album interesting. A bit later in the album you’ll get to the
interlude “S.T.W.A.” which is a minute instrumental that leads into “Blood
Diamond” the mix into “Blood Diamond” is a little poor, there’s a minor gap
that makes the sound skip a little when transitioning from song to song here. “Blood
Diamond” is a nearly 12 minute Thrash marathon that honestly, doesn’t need to
be nearly 12 minutes. Some instrumental sections go on a few bars to long and
the song just doesn’t have enough to it to keep the listener invested in it,
especially with the following track “Leave It All Behind” being another 7 and a
half minutes. I love long songs personally, but they have to be done right, the
song had to be interesting enough to keep you invested, if it’s going to be any
longer than 7 minutes, I better be hearing a real well written story.
So in
conclusion, “Knock ‘Em Out... With A Metal Fist” isn’t exactly knocking anyone
out, it’s a great album, no doubt about it, the only downfall is the fact that
there’s nothing to keep you from wandering off during the long songs in the
album that draw out a bit too long. Although the thing I do love about this
album is the sort of Revocation style Thrash Metal meets Children of Bodom
Melodic Death sound and vocalist Ben Batres has a very Alexi Laiho meets Dave
Mustaine (trust me, check out “Leave It All Behind” for this) influenced sound
to his voice. If you’re a fan of the style, it’s an album you’ll enjoy, it’s
not groundbreaking, it’s not the next big thing, it’s just a very solid album
in and out.
65/100
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