A popular name over the years based on Metal Archives research, this scribe remembers most the 80’s Belgian version of Crossfire – a speed/heavy metal act who released albums like See You In Hell and Second Attack on Mausoleum Records. The group under inspection here, however, has been together since 2012, hails from Dublin, Ireland, and released the Bound in Skin EP in 2018 plus a series of singles leading up to this debut album Switch to Reset. Sharing the stage with artists locally and nationally such as Exhorder, Lost Society, Gama Bomb, and Xentrix, it’s obvious that thrash metal is the style of choice here – a crunchy, riff-based platform where the band launch from older influences to write lengthy tracks that come to an almost hour-long playback time.
The eight songs encompass a wide array of material over the group’s decade plus history – as they reach back into three songs from the first EP, a follow-up 2018 single “Who Goes There?”, then newer songs to flesh things out. The guitar work from Matt O’Brien and fellow axeman/vocalist Kevin O’Connor contains serious thick chops, loads of speedy down picking, and thrilling instrumental transitions – aligning well with the work of acts like early Cyclone Temple, Heathen, Artillery, and fellow UK mates Xentrix. The elongated instrumental sequences often carry influences from familiar territory – the slower, militant marching that starts “Lost All Control” contains a lot of “Harvester of Sorrow”/Metallica atmosphere, including the rhythm-like chorus Kevin employs, while “Prometheus” as an almost eleven-minute instrumental incorporates aspects of Testament’s classical endeavors next to the feel of “Orion” from Metallica in spots (kind of liberally borrowing from a key musical hook during the midway point on the latter). Exemplary abilities remain present when it comes to the key components of thrash, the tightness obvious, skilled training at their craft – the question is, has Crossfire been able to establish their own take on things? The best work seems to occur when the four-piece lock into some mid-tempo headbanging tracks – using acceleration techniques more as a coloring tool – “Turned to Stone” and the title track probably the favorites of the bunch.
When servicing the needs of a song best, less can indeed be more – even in a long-running genre like thrash. Crossfire needs to understand when the fat needs to be trimmed to streamline the main components to be more of a potent force over the course of a record. Currently as they sit with Switch to Reset, it’s adequate songwriting that gets the job done, but potential is present for stronger outings down the line.