Despite the title, Decades Of Pain is the debut album of the German thrash-metal band Toxic Waltz. The band was founded in 2009 by the lead guitarist Jimi and ex-drummer Tim and was later joined by bassist Rahman, vocalist Angelo and rhythm guitarist Alex. The album opens with a short acoustic intro, in soothing tones, that builds into the title-track of the album. Influences of early Metallica can be heard in the guitar lines, along with Exodus and some Testament and the overall Bay Area thrash sound. The vocals are raw and full of anger, but the tone used makes it somewhat displaced from the rest. Going through the songs it feels like Angelo is keeping himself restrained at most times, or maybe still trying to find his distinct style. I found his performance quite more interesting in the songs where he added some different growling and screaming styles, like in Obsession To Kill. The compositions are as expected for this genre, fast and pounding, and they managed to keep things interesting with a few breaks or riffs or even a couple of additional acoustic moments smartly placed that allowed for some mood swings in the songs. The guitar soloing wasa bit inconsistent. They have presented us some wild and fast solos, and some great slower and more melodic ones, but also a few ones not so inspired. The bass and drums are mostly played at fast pace and easily force our feet rhythmically against the ground. They both are in line with the guitars in the way they include a few fills or breaks to make things more interesting. And, since I've referred the bass, let me praise the production, as we can clearly hear the bass in this album! Not only the bass, but all instruments are heard perfectly, well mixed and leveled, and only Angelo's voice seems to be a little bit too much over everything else. The one drawback of having such a crystal-clear production is a certain lack of rawness and aggression from the guitars, something we usually wouldn't expect from a thrash album. This same clean production might also be the reasong why I found the vocals to be somewhat displaced from the rest, with the harsh, furious singing giving a feel of danger that is not accompanied by the guitars. Other than this, somewhere along the way it felt difficult to give the album my full attention, although my feet always kept accompanying the drumming pattern through all the songs. It looked like sometimes things were being played "in Auto", missing some fresh ideas or some personnal touch to recapture our attention, or the guys were only playin' it safe and not taking too many risks. Still, this is an interesting and positive debut album that will surely open some doors while leaving room for improvement as we've seen the potential is there, with some cool ideas and good technical skills. Morbid Symphony, the title-track or the album closer Obsession To Kill are some of the best tracks found in Decades Of Pain.

Final score: 70 / 100. Keep thrashing!


Rating: 70%