BLACK SACHBAK - No Pay No Gain
June 17, 2015, 8 years ago
(Jan ML Records/Maja Von Lobeck)
It's hard to not get caught up in the enthusiasm of this one, Israel's Black Sachbak delivering a strain of old-school thrash that handles sounds both Cali (gang back-up vocals, chugging mosh parts, raging solos) and German (razor-wire riffs that destroy any melodies in sight), with a bit of old-school crossover to top things off. I realize that in this post-thrash-revival era, we all get a bit exhausted when we see cover art like this or hear riffs that sound like this, even if the bands have all the right intentions.
But sometimes it's done right: Black Sachbak (no idea, but it's fun to say out loud) do it right indeed, the band injecting the right amount of humour into their tunes, making this a fun listening experience that never gets to the realm of goofy novelty. Some of the attempts at singing just fall so short I have no idea if they're trying to be funny or not (see "The IMF", but brace yourself for some brutal singing), but aside from that, this is a fully raging, completely fun, and definitely heartfelt love letter to classic '80s thrash. I mean, we'll all forget it exists by the time the next decent thrash album comes along, of course, but that's how it goes with old-school-lovin' thrash bands.
