Making a nice impression through their last EP Rotten Trajectory in 2023, Utah’s Deathblow continue their addictive form of punk-ish crossover-oriented thrash on this latest EP Open Season. Not one to mess with a winning formula, you’ll get a four-track outing that keeps the hooks flowing, sensibly executing the songs in a focused fashion. This is a quartet that has a strong outlook on the classic elements of this genre, while also injecting a bit of the raw, punishing playbook that many acts in the current generation display.
Between the strong dual rhythm / lead break attack for the group, a hefty bass tone that possesses interesting bouncy accents, thoroughly energetic drum passion, and then a spastic vocal presence with proper gang background supplementation, it’s easy to understand why the group may get some comparisons to Nuclear Assault, Power Trip, or Sacred Reich. The mid-tempo to d-beat transition for the stomping title cut gets this EP off to a raucous start – interesting little lead guitar accents as well as the stunted chorus chant bringing more memorable headbanging activities to the forefront. Gallop-fueled guitars play off of an enticing bass underpinning for “Deny Defend Dispose”, where Holton Grossl’s vocal delivery contains the right balance between hoarse screams and impassioned pleas of spitfire despair. “Tormentor” has that old school thrash angst on the lyrical front, while musically once again shifting between a heads down attack and catchy pit-moving crossover parts, the spicy lead breaks quenching that thirst for insanity. Closer “Never Again” probably entertains the most from a traditional metal perspective, lots of melodic hooks to catch up on, including a cultural, battle-style verse riff that matches the rhythmic bark vocally to make this probably the strongest track of the four.
A bit longer than Rotten Trajectory at an economical twelve-minutes, Open Season proves that Deathblow arises to punish the listeners in an active thrash community looking for fresh blood. It may not be the most original formula, yet it works brilliantly in the minds (and hands) of capable musicians like this.