Often times, you never know what you’re gonna get when you buy an album from a band you really don’t know much about. However, BLOOD TSUNAMI clearly make their intentions known via their band name, album title, and cover artwork. These Norwegians say what they mean and mean what they say. Thrash Metal is pure, ugly, aggressive old school thrash metal. BLOOD TSUNAMI waste no time as they rip through the songs with a fine variety of prime riffing at a high speed pace. Though the band’s line-up may be most notable for vocalist/guitarist Pete Evil (host of MTV Nordic’s Headbangers Ball show) and drummer Faust (ABORYM, SCUM, ex-EMPEROR), the hearty contributions of guitarist Dor Amazon and bassist Bosse should not be overlooked. The band mix things up in terms of giving their songs good individual character so as to not become a monotonous blur. However, the biggest strength of BLOOD TSUNAMI is their ability to conjure up that true spirit and energy that made classic thrash metal so great and exciting to listen to. While the album progresses at a fireball’s pace, averaging around five minutes in length, the titantic “Godbeater” slows things down a tad and really takes the album to new places. The 10:02 instrumental is a journey filled with twists and turns on a grander level, almost like the way MAIDEN and METALLICA would get epic. There’s even a riff that easily could have been on SABBATH’s Vol. 4. While Thrash Metal may be BLOOD TSUNAMI’s debut album, they sound like seasoned veterans. Aren’t those the best kind of debut album? (Candlelight Records/Nocturnal Art Productions)