Churning out a fine blend of old school death metal minatory and killer thrash metal stampeding, Guilty as Sin conjure up a dynamic that balances well both its rhythmic and virulent faces. Consistently upbeat throughout you will find yourself nodding your head in approval, in synch with Zak's percussive militant boom's, rolling kick drums and pronto snare bashing. Amongst the full bodied drumming, is a nice blend of riffs, that ambient the pre-dominant styles of a thrashing build up and power trip of death metal back and forth, in an ever oscillating cycle.
The first song Carniverous Intent is a true homage to early 90's death and thrash scene in a moshing violent tone and rhythm of disgruntled long haired youth, bouncing around in a pit of denim, sweat and booze. However as the album progresses it takes the listener on a journey, journeying less into the realms of death metal, stepping up the old school thrash in the style of a creative clash of Kreator meets 80's Slayer. The final track itself is a juxtaposition to all their old school extreme metal fashioning and enter an Ancient Egypt/Oriental themed mellow session, and not in style of Nile either, but that of a flute and a Dumbeg (I had to google that one!) accompaniment of writhing guitar work and snake charming wood wind.
No vocals are present are on the album, but the rare sample is, putting a verbal edge on the mood it creates, and that mood is ever changing, from the buzzing hum drum of the start, to the relaxing sophistications of oriental imagery inducing serenades.
As a man whose love of music was born of metal, Guilty as Sin certainly offer a metal laden collective throwback of the glory days of metal, executing it well and with a few unique twists and turns along the way.
(Honesty Policy: Guilty as Sin sent me a copy)
