Album Reviews : Hazmat – Hazmat

When you make a 14 track album that goes for longer than an hour, you really have to keep the intensity of the album up to please the listeners. Sydney’s Hazmat have made a dark, pure thrash metal album which has its moments, but can get boring into the second half of the album. The production of the album didn’t appeal to me either, it lacks energy.

The opening tracks (Hazmat) and Wings of the Devil kick the album off at mid-speed with straight-forward traditional heavy metal riffs. The vocals during the verses sound like a half-assed effort, especially the backing vocals, but at some points the lead vocals sound very flawless and heavy. The middle of the song shows off a ripping bass solo, which definitely caught my ear as you don’t hear bass solos in many songs these days.

“Blitz Attack” is my favourite track off the album, although being the shortest track of the album it was the thrashiest and had blistering guitar solos for more than half of it. “Extinct” was another standout song which instantly reminded me of Accept’s most recent album. The verse has a very groovy bassline, with face-melting dual solos and thrashy riffs throughout the middle of the song.

The album started to bore me a bit after the song “Snake”, which had some thrilling riffs and reminded me of Megadeth during their “So Far, So Good, So What” era. Some of the riffs in the songs after Snake sound similar to the earlier tracks on the album, which after constant listens of the album isn’t impressive. The album started to slow down a bit after the tenth track “Shadows”, and didn’t give the pure thrash metal sound that they claim to make.

Overall, Hazmat’s debut album has its ups and downs, but it wasn’t bad. It isn’t an album I’d enjoyably listen to over and over, but some tracks really did catch my ear. The guitar work of the album was definitely my favourite part. In my opinion, I think Hazmat would sound a lot better with better production, and making their songs flow more without making the album suffer from slight monotony. 6/10

Band: Hazmat
Album: Hazmat
Year: 2011
Genre: Thrash
Origin: Sydney, Australia
Label: Independent
www.hazmatmetal.com

Track listing:
1. (Hazmat)
2. Wings of the Devil
3. Blitz Attack
4. Life
5. Extinct
6. Unnatural Selection
7. Snake
8. Blue Murder
9. Hate for Me
10. Shadows
11. Split Trust
12. Repressed
13. The Judge
14. Ragged Bloody Heroes