Oppression - State Of War

2006-09-13

When you take 80's bay area thrash metal and let a Swedish band perform it, that's when you have Oppression. These Swedes perform quite technical and very aggressive 80's thrash, mostly American sounding, with strong vocals and the complimentary gang backing vocals, this is as 80's as it gets.

Production wise is an all right for a 4 track demo, the right elements stand out, good guitar work with melodic leads and a strong vocal performance, the two problems I had is that out of the 4 tracks there are no significant attributes to any of the 4 songs, so they come off as 4 good thrash numbers, but none of them too unique or has its own personality. Some of the tracks are overlong, they have plenty of good riffs, but they don’t need to use so much of them in one song.

In any case, these guys have talent to spare, and they've certainly managed to get the 80's thrash sound right, just a few more corrections and it’s a great band.

Alon Miasnikov