Rezet—New World Murder EP (2022)

Details

Mixed and mastered by Eike Freese. Released Friday 27 May 2022

For fans of Annihilator, Traitor, Overkill

Band

Ricky Wagner—Vocals and guitar
Jan-Erik Fischer—Guitar
Lorenz Kandolf—Bass
Bastian “attt” Santen—Drums

Tracks

The devil’s bride (2:22)
Alien noises (3:35)
Dead end walking (4:12)
Fireball (Deep Purple cover) (3:03)

Additional musicians

Schmier (from Destruction)—Vocals on “Alien noises”

Review

When Rezet’s most recent album Truth in Between (2021) effectively turned out to be a commercial nonstarter due to Covid-19, Schleswig’s (Germany) finest in thrash quickly had to separate the wheat from the chaff… albeit not so much voluntarily as out of necessity. After amicably separating from guitarist Heiko Musolf and bass player Bjarne Otto, main composer, guitarist and singer Ricky Wagner shortly wondered whether he should put the band to rest.

Instead, opting for a no-compromise and do-it-yourself approach by continuing Rezet without label-support, this resolve triggered a burst of creativity resulting in New World Murder, a four-track EP which both revisits the group’s roots as well as points towards a brighter future. Wagner and drummer Bastian “attt” Santen recruited bassist Lorenz Kandolf and second guitarist Jan-Erik Fischer to self-record three new songs as well as a flamboyant cover of Deep Purple’s proto metal classic “Fireball” (track 4).

And it is for releases exactly like this that I love this 195 metal CDs project. For a moment, this EP transported me back to a half-decorated bedroom in the Scottish Borders in the mid-to late-80s covered with Queen and metal posters, staying up late on a Friday night to listen to Tommy Vance‘s Friday Rock Show on BBC Radio 1. The days before the world wide web and smartphones, unable to access whatever you want, whenever you want. I needed to satisfy my thirst for new metal and broaden my education through weekly magazines like Kerrang! and Raw!, monthly releases of Metal Hammer and Metal Forces, TV broadcasts like Noisy Mothers and Raw Power, but the holy grail of them all was the gravelly voiced guru of metal Tommy Vance. I got into so many new bands through that show—Candlemass, Pantera, Sepultura.

Opening track “The devil’s bride” (track 1) has the same energy and excitement as those early Bay Area thrash releases. “Alien noises” (track 2) has a satisfying gallop and vocals spat out like those early Kreator records. It has a definite ‘teutonic thrash’ vibe. Another reason to love this track, “Alien Noises” features guest vocals by Schmier, frontman of German thrash pioneers Destruction. This track will grace the soundtrack of the movie Total Thrash.

And like a perfect three-course meal ‘Dead end walking (track 3) gives us a different flavour. Within the first minute the tempo has changed multiple times from gentle gallop to full-out thrash and back again, before a whining guitar solo introduces the vocals.

The outlier on this release is the over of Deep Purple’s “Fireball”, the opening track from their 1971 album of the same name. It’s hard to know what they were trying to achieve here—other than that they enjoyed the track. I’m not sure it adds terribly much to the EP, to be honest. I would have preferred another original track—even a reworking of a previous release. If the idea was to reinvent the band, how better than to give an old track new life, and drive some listeners to explore their back-catalogue? Anyway…

Conclusion

All in all this is a good EP—it connects with the past and points to the future. This EP reaches back to the roots of 80s thrash but as more than just a tribute, this feels fresh and exciting today. I’d be keen to hear where Rezet take things next.

Review score: 85%

Video

Disclosure

MDPR contacted me inviting me to preview Rezet forthcoming album, which I was delighted about. I have no connections to either MDPR or Rezet. I’m not being paid to review this. But I did get a free digital copy of the album to review which is pretty cool. Many thanks to Zach from MDPR, and to Rezet for continuing to create fresh, exciting thrash.