Music Review: Tuck from Hell - Thrashing

Get yourself a silly name and a goofy album cover and you can go far in the metal world. Well, maybe not, but you cannot deny that metal has had more than its fair share of entries in both of those categories. This collection of Swedish youngsters gets a little credit for landing in both categories. On one side you have the band's name, Tuck from Hell. I don't know about you, but I think that is a little silly and would likely play well on a double bill with Tim Lambesis' Austrian Death Machine. Then you have the cover, a drawing of an action hero looking fellow with a chainsaw on one arm and a flamethrower in the other. Funny, that could also go with Austrian Death Machine.



Even only knowing the band name and album art it should be pretty easy to guess what type of music they play. Go ahead, I'll give you a moment.....  Yes! That's right, Tuck from Hell is a metal band. They are not just any band, they are a metal band of the old school persuasion, but with a sense of humor. Something tells me that between the name, the cover, and the sometimes comical lyrical content  that this band does not take itself too seriously. I will try to do the same.

Simply put, Thrashing, the band's debut rocks hard. It does not forge through new metallic territory, but it does go on an adventurous excursion into the genre's past. What is even more surprising is that the style they are going back in time with and that they have a very good understanding of was developed and in full swing before any of them were born (all of Tuck from Hell's members were born in 1988).

Tuck from Hell has a sound and execution that would be perfectly at home among the Testaments, Metallicas, and Megadeths of the 1980's, but with a slight twist. You should look at them as the comical cousin who came for a visit and blended their sense of humor with their bigger cousin's musical chops. Wow. That makes no sense, but I suspect you catch my meaning.

This is a record of crunchy metal riffs, straight forward performances, and a good dose of fun. I can completely see a pit full of metalheads banging their heads with the horns raised high. Forget moshing, this is here to spark old school headbanging! Send them out to open for bands like Warbringer, Municipal Waste, and headline Lazarus AD and you would have one serious thrash-fest.

Put this disk in and check out tracks like "Death Before Disco," "King of Thrash," "Barbecue Beast," and "Tequila Race." You can't go wrong. Sure, there isn't really anything new here, but these guys get the 80's thrash style and know how to have fun with it. Definitely a surface over substance act, they will surely put a smile on your face and get that hair moving.

Recommended.