Grief of War

Alright, the album’s title doesn’t really make that much grammatical sense, and the lyrics are pretty ridiculous, but these guys are Japanese, so give ’em a break on the things that inevitably get lost in translation. Grief of War are actually a trash metal outfit that seem to have embraced the Bay Area sound, even though the entire Pacific Ocean lies between them. At its core, this record is a definite headbanger. From the opening Angel of Death tribute scream all the way through to the end, fans of old school thrash from any generation will enjoy much of this. In fact, this is actually the debut from these young thrashers from Tokyo, so bonus points are given for bringing something worthy to the table on their first attempt. For a good laugh that will most likely make you feel like a culturally insensitive jerk afterwards, read along with the lyric book as the disc plays. Not only are good portions of the written lyrics skipped over in the actual vocals but the pronunciations are really off the mark. But it’s not like lyrical content is the main drawing factor of old school thrash metal. These guys have the neck-splitting riffs to back up whatever the hell it is they’re singing about.