Hiran Deraniyagala w/ Blistering.com

In this day and age of modern technology, the number of bands plying for fan attention is mammoth. Back in my early teens, we depended on any print magazine we could find or a specialty radio show that played maybe at midnight on a weekend for that one-two hours of metal music. You would comb the record stores looking for names that sounded cool, covers that captured your eyes and possibly raided the music collections of your friends. The youth of today do not realize how instantly accessible anything they want is with a few keystrokes and a computer/tablet/ cell phone device.

So it’s nice to hear that younger acts like Michigan’s Battlecross still believe in the label model to advance their career aspirations. The debut album Pursuit of Honor fuses the old with the new when it comes to thrash and modern metal. You can hear aggression but also slip into some fine musicianship-laden passages and the ability of writing songs- not merely musicians slapping together four or five riffs and hoping the listeners will retain all the parts that whiz by their ears.

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RingMaster - Pursuit of Honor CD Review

Distinct uniqueness and originality is a few and far between occurrence in music today, the possibility of finding something that is so new that jaws drop and heartbeats stop is becoming as rare as honesty in politicians. So the next best thing is a band that uses elements from elsewhere to flavour and expand their own sound to create something that does nothing less than warm the soul and devour the senses. Detroit thrash metalers Battlecross are such a band and with their debut for Metal Blade Records they have delivered just an album.

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Xplosive Metal - Pursuit Of Honor CD Review

REVIEWED BY: Caroline Restiaux

What I love most about metal is that it is quite diverse. You have so many bands out there that are made up of distinct characteristics, elements, and qualities. Where some bands lack in musicianship they gain in vocal ability, some have stronger guitar solos and others kick ass when it comes to drumming. When you find bands that encompass all of these strengths it’s hard not to turn the volume up and crank it to 10. This is the case with Detroit’s very own Battlecross.

I admit to sleeping under a rock when it comes to these guys because I had never heard of them before and this is their 2nd full-length release however it’s their debut with Metal Blade. The band has only been around for 4 years now and they already have a mature sound about them and they bring out brutal technicality in their music. The best way for me to describe their sound is to say that it’s extreme death/thrash/tech metal. The release is full of juice and by that I mean it’s dynamic and filled with tons of energy.

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