Metal Assault - Pursuit of Honor CD Review

Detroit-based technical thrash metal quintet Battlecross recently signed on to the Metal Blade label, and are now ready to present their Metal Blade debut ‘Pursuit Of Honor’, consisting of 11 tracks bristling with fist-pumping, face-melting heavy metal at its finest.
The title track acts as the ‘calm before the storm’ type intro that leads into the real opening track “Push Pull Destroy”. Right away, I can identify the uniqueness in Battlecross’ music, as they combine death metal-style vocals with music that can be rather accurately described as traditional heavy metal, at least in this instance. This highly upbeat track is laden with twin guitar harmonies that would raise many a fist in the air and make the heads of listeners bang almost automatically. As if this wasn’t already enough, Don Slater’s bass licks would make you reminisce Steve Harris laying down the bass in those classic early Maiden tunes. With a start as epic as this, the onus was on the following track “Kaleb” to attempt to keep up, and it certainly does. This one though is more of an outright thrash tune as double-bass drumming and fast alternate picking take prominence here. “Deception” enhances the technical aspect even further and definitely sounds like a death metal staple that should please fans of that particular sub-genre.

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