Obnoxious Youth – Burning Savage

I am a harsh critic…when it comes to Thrash metal.  It’s the metal genre I grew up listening to, back in the day (late 80’s). First listen, meh.  Not into it so much. Then…as every good music reviewer must, listened again, and again.

First listen was passive, wasn’t paying too much attention.  Giving a proper listen, the quintet are a multinational metal group, from Sweden and Finland, these dudes are speed merchants.  Maybe it was the instrumental intro threw me off. A horror flick soundtrack feel.  Musical influences I picked up quick, the Accused smashed with the Hellacopters.

“Imminent Evil”, track two is a mutant child Suicidal Tendencies and Iron Maiden.

Track six, “Torrents of Black Blood” is a departure from the furious metal madness.  It’s a 5-minute plus.

The next song is my top pick, “Ultra Death”.  This one brings me back to my speed metal youth, a smash of “Painkiller” era Judas Priest, add a dirty dose of Motorhead, Death Angel, Testament and a few more bands from the glory days of speed metal.

“Phantasma” is a close runner up to best track on the musical 12-pack. Getting some English punk rocker on this punishing metal assault. One of those songs you hear and instantly have to play again.

Church bell intro, a few bars of haunting metal, then the lid rips off, full on fusion speed/thrash/punk.

Formed in the mid-2000s, the band to date released two full-length albums and two EPs.  Burning Savage is due to be released just in time for Halloween, the most metal holiday. After a 4-year layoff the far north quintet put together a raging rock set, well worth adding to your music library.

Obnoxious Youth’s press release sets the record straight.  Their musical intentions mean they don’t play the music genre game.  “The purpose of the band was to break boundaries and to return to the time when extreme music didn’t have any rules or regulations. When there was no” death metal” or” thrash metal”, when there was just” metal” or” punk”.

On that theme, hearing this song set, it got me thinking about the volume of metal music that came before. A child of the 80s, I can close my eyes and vividly see me and a few friends sitting on the floor, eyes fixed on Headbanger’s Ball. The best, hand down MTV program of all time, full stop.

The band members are veterans of the metal scene, having played in numerous bands, Entombed, No Future and Endtime.

Watch out for their tour supporting Burning Savage, ripping up Europe this Fall.

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