Dublin Death Patrol

While the band name and album title appear to be things one might find on the hip-hop shelf of your friendly neighbourhood music store, there’s nothing even remotely close to a sample or digital beat on DDP 4 Life. Chalk that up to a cast of characters that includes singers Chuck Billy and Steve "Zetro” Sousa (weirdly, both former Testament vocalists), Greg Bustamente and Danny Cunningham. In other words, this is thrash metal at its aged finest. Updated and reenergised, there’s nary a tight pair of black jeans meeting white sneakers in the troupe. Older, angrier and more eloquent with their delivery, the dozen tracks on this debut effort are a barrage of searing guitars, thick bass and booming drums that blend the venom of the musicians’ former thrash glory with a subtler metalcore aspect. In fact, despite the ridiculous name and unsubtle gangster/biker imagery, this is one of the more raging pieces of old school extreme music to blast forth in years.