Anzillu is ready for their debut album.
Formed in 2019 in Finland, the band consisting of Jesse Kämäräinen (guitar, ex-Inkvisitor), Teemu Kemppainen (vocals, Argent Void), Sami Katajainen (guitar, GAF) and Rasmus Kantonen (bass) asked Tino Jäntti (drums, Vanguardian, ex-Inkvisitor) to help out with the release of Ex Nihilo, their debut album, through M-Theory Audio.
The band immediately attacks with Needles (On My Nerves), an energetic and aggressive composition placing its Thrash roots on a groovy and sharp rhythmic pattern completed by those piercing vocals. Sharp leads also add a touch of hoarse Heavy Metal as on the massive Mental Graveyard which comes to crush us with its raw strength, to which some darker and more disturbing dissonant parts are added, giving it an interesting relief. The track ends before letting Trumpets of War place a solid and federative rhythmic dedicated to breaking necks with effective riffs, then The Cleansing Flame renews with catchy jerky patterns. The track draws from Old School influences while keeping a fairly recent mix which lets each element express itself between blast and leads before Discordia locks us in a cage of melodious dissonance interspersed with more jerky parts. Dauntless will follow with a soft but disturbing introduction, quickly crushed by Thrash Metal’s raw aggressiveness and its abrasive melodies, then Splinter in the Mind’s Eye will come to feed the strange sounds the band knows how to develop before charging with solid riffs. The frantic and rather short Vulture lets the band go back to its rawer influences while placing a worked rhythmic populated with airy leads, then Ex Nihilo closes the album with catchy and thick Southern Metal accents which perfectly match the track’s general atmosphere. But it is very long for the style, and it will offer several slower parts which let aggressiveness come back to life before finally giving way to silence.
Anzillu knows how to handle his Thrash/Groove roots to inject to Ex Nihilo all the recipe to make an aggressive and catchy album between Old School sounds and more modern patterns.
75/100