Cruentator - "Ain't War Hell?" (Xtreem Music, 2018)

Band: Cruentator
Title: Ain't War Hell?
Genre: Brutal Thrash Metal
Year: 10th January 2018
Time: 32 min
Rating: 77/100













...and finally, today I am going to review, for the very first time, an album released in 2018, not in 2017...and it was fuckin' time! "Ain't War Hell?" is this first 2018 album on these pages and the band that realized it, under the auspices of the Dave Rotten's label Xtreem Music, is Cruentator. Coming from the beautiful Italian city of Como, Cruentator features members (Riccardo and Omar, drummer and guitarist respectively) and ex-members (the singer Ambro) from the gore brutal death metal band Bowel Stew, so we're talking about musicians with a lot of experience in the extreme metal scene. Well, with "Ain't War Hell?", they realized an album that perfectly sounds as its cover artwork, which, made by the talented artist from Indonesia Five Miligrams, is one of best artworks that I've ever seen in these last times! And believe me that the sound by Cruentator is terribly sanguinary, a real...MERCILESS EXTERMINATION!

"Merciless Extermination" is just the first song of the album, and its title is a perfect synthesis of the style played by these 5 maniacs (but they recorded "Ain't War Hell?" with 4 elements in line-up before the addition, in Spring 2017, of the guitarist Massi FD). In fact, Cruentator plays a barbaric and fukken relentless thrash metal with slightly death metal touches and war-inspired lyrics shouted with extreme hate by Ambro, a screeching screamer à la Mille Petrozza that continuously draws scenarios of total devastation and holocaust. You have to consider that their sound is so ferocious and loud (but don't expect any blast-beats, despite the death metal influences) that the first mid/slow tempos are into, from time to time, the third track "Barbaric Violence", the most structured number of this debut album due to its 6 minutes circa embraced with more epic tunes. So, the influences are very clear: some of the most violent '80s thrash bands like Morbid Saint, Demolition Hammer, Razor, Num Skull and, granted, without forgetting the Teutonic thrash metal forged with the purest ferocity by Sodom, Kreator and Destruction!

Recorded at the renowned Toxic Basement Studio with the producer Carlo Altobelli after sharing sometimes the stage with the mighty Necrodeath (that will play in my city, Rome, on 14th April 2018!), "Ain't War Hell?" has got the classic problem of this kind of albums: also it is characterized by a little variety, so it is only for the thrashers that love the brutality in its most quintessential form! But this little variety don't avoid to Cruentator to play outstanding songs such as the same "Merciless Extermination", "Tyrants of the Wastelands", "Marching Into a Minefield" and the closing ultra-demented number "Cluster Terror" (that shows even some amazing riffs with a slightly melodic vibe...very "slightly", uh!), all composed by memorable riffs, sick screams (and some very rare growls from time to time) and a bestial intensity that, surely, annihilates already the fukken sissies! Instead, another tracks like "Evil is Prowling Around" are less effective than the 4 aforementioned ones. At this point, I can't imagine the carnage everytime provoked by Cruentator under the stage during their shows, so, soon or later, I hope to see live them in Rome, possibly again in league with similar (but more creative) acts like the Dave Rotten's Holycide (in fact, they shared the same stage two months ago circa but in another location) for the...ULTIMATE THRASHING HOLOCAUST!

Tracklist:

1 - Merciless Extermination
2 - Tyrants of the Wastelands
3 - Barbaric Violence
4 - Evil is Prowling Around
5 - The Nightstalker
6 - Marching Into a Minefield
7 - The Shining Hate
8 - Cluster Terror

Line-up:

Ambro - vocals
Omar - guitars
Vanni - bass
Riccardo - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Cruentator/
BandCamp: https://cruentator.bandcamp.com/
Xtreem Music: http://shop.xtreemmusic.com/english.main.index.php