DUST BOLT - Awake The Riot
July 1, 2014, 9 years ago
(Napalm Records)
Second album in from these German thrashers, and they take their cues from the best: some Teutonic Kreator speed and melodies here, some classic Metallica hyper-rhythm riffin' there, and some arresting dynamics to boot. The band name and cover art sets it up for jolly thrash revival but the tone is more serious and heavier than that, which is refreshing. But while the band has taken from the best of thrash, they've also taken some of the worst, here adding a good 17 minutes to the run time of their debut, pushing it to 58 minutes, which is just pushing it, period. It pains me to think how much more impact this one would have had were it a good 20 minutes shorter. We ranked their debut a 7.0 and if this one didn't drag on for too long they would have jumped up past that, the band progressing past the blinders-on thrash of their first to a more sophisticated songwriting dynamic on this cool disc. So we're holding tight at 7.0, because more is not always better, even when it's excellent thrash metal, which Dust Bolt most certainly are.
