Battalion – Underdogs

Releasedate: 16-02-2010; Label: Silverwolf productions/Intergroove
By: Elvira Visser

Battalion is a young band hailing from Switserland. The guys, all in their early twenties met up for jamsessions and founded the band Battalion. A young band that plays Thrash metal but is clearly influenced by the 80’s heavy metal from bands like Testament and Overkill. Although the guys are young they must have been listening to albums from Slayer, Testament and Metallica, because these young guys prove us that they can play some fast paced trash. Beside this there is place for well though melodies and a balanced consonance.

The band has recently released their first album under Silverwold Productions named “Underdogs”. With this album they show that even thought they are quite young they are capable of bringing 80s heavy metal together with Thrash metal with nice melody lines and great riffs. Delivering a diverse album and let us wonder how they would play live.

“Headbangers” is a strong track where the vocals remind me of Metallica, it has the same nodding pace and moments to shout along. “Beggars Right” and “Defenders” have that great tempo full of energy with traditional heavy metal influences. Energy and power can be found in more of their tracks but not all tracks are speedy trash. For example there is this track “Stalingrad” which deals with war and Russia. It has alluring riffs but also calm moments and even a German spoken passage , the drums come back in a marching tune before exploding again. They deliver a aggressive powerful album which has moments where they surprise us, which makes this a great album.

Tracklist: 01. Thrash Maniacs 02. Headbangers 03. Running Alone 04. Wings of A Demon 05. T.F.F.M. 06. Bullets & Death 07. Stalingrad 08. Interlude 09. Beggars Right 10. Dictators Of Stone 11. Defenders

Links:
Battalion MySpace