Release Date 19.06.2026
Format CD
Genre Heavy/Thrash Metal
Origin United States
Axemaster emerged from Ravenna, Ohio, during the mid 1980s, when American heavy metal was splitting into speed, thrash, doom and traditional camps without asking permission from marketing departments. Formed as a full working band in 1985, the band entered the underground through the demo "Slave To The Blade", followed by "Blessing In The Skies", "Death Before Dishonor" and "5 Demons". The early material built a small international audience through tape trading, specialist labels and imported vinyl, the old routes that turned regional bands into names passed between committed listeners. After years away from regular activity, Axemaster returned on a permanent basis in 2010. "Overture To Madness" arrived in 2015, followed by another full length in 2017, extending the band’s mix of traditional US metal, thrash attack and doom shading.
"Of Beasts And Plagues" was written across a long period that began during the pandemic years, with parts captured at Chamber Studio and rhythm sessions completed at Mindfield Recording And Mixing in Ohio. The finished album places the current phase of Axemaster inside the
rough, dark character heard across its earlier releases. A fan funded campaign helped Cosmic Fire Records bring the album into physical production, an unusually fitting route for a band whose history has depended more on underground loyalty than industry fashion.
"Of Beasts And Plagues" runs for roughly fifty five minutes and presents twelve compositions built from hard edged riffs, mid paced marching rhythms, faster thrash passages and doom soaked descents. The guitars dominate the frame with blunt chord shapes, clipped turns and lead lines serving the songs with little decoration. Bass and drums remain audible and firm, giving the slower sections a grounded pulse, and the quicker passages gain urgency without turning into speed metal.
The music reaches its best form when doom darkens the traditional metal base and the thrash accents shorten the distance between riff and chorus. "Murder Of Crows" has a grim, stalking motion, "Kissed With A Fist" uses a more immediate hook, and "Dagon Rising" brings the album toward its deepest doom territory. Those examples mark the range without turning the album into a set of unrelated styles. The weaker stretches come from similar mid tempo patterns appearing too close together, plus several choruses lacking the same pull as the riffs beneath them. The length exposes those similarities during the second half.
Axemaster has made an album with substance, disciplined playing and a convincing dark atmosphere. It is rough around the edges in places, and that roughness is preferable to studio gloss. The songwriting has enough variation to reward repeated plays, and the less distinctive refrains stop it from reaching the upper tier of the band’s catalogue. This is durable US heavy metal, written by musicians with decades behind them and judged by the songs in front of us.
|8.0
Add comment
Comments