Verbal Razors: By Thunder and Lightning

After several decades of suffering through an overabundance of nu-metal and deathcore, my dream of thrash bands being a dime a dozen just like the good old days is finally a reality. There's so much quality thrash coming out that I can barely keep up, and I'm not even sure I want to anymore. While many modern acts have the right hand and the high-tops to scratch the thrash itch, few remember to bring the hooks or really any character to distinguish them from the rest of the pack. Not so with French crossover thrashers Verbal Razors.

Chief among the band's assets is a vocalist, Simon Jeffroy, who spits out each word with a punk-infused venom that brings to mind Zeke's “Blind” Marky Felchtone. Too obscure? How about a pissed-off Guy Picciotto? Still too obscure? Lets just say, Jeffroy takes the consistently above average songs on By Thunder and Lightning and elevates them to barn-burning, face-melting, pit-inducing rippers.

After the vocals, the thing that stands out to me is the quality of the riffs and plethora of hooks in both the choruses and the verses. ‘Riot’, ‘Trash’, and ‘Cross The Line’, are particular favorites of mine, but there's honestly not a song on the album that doesn't make me want to start a circle pit in the kitchen with my wife and kids.

With a running time of 31 minutes and an average track length hovering around two minutes, By Thunder and Lightning, is short and to the point, as it should be with this kind of music. It's the perfect album to put on when you want to keep raging after listening to Evil Army's 2010 self-titled classic. 

You do listen to Evil Army's Evil Army every day, as per Firesideometer A.D. Executive Order 666, don't you?