Paul Hutchings takes a listen to the new Thrashsquatch! And sees if their New Year’s Day Release is going to start 2021 right!

The first thing you notice about this fresh EP from the band that opened Moshing the Roof On is the striking artwork. So much going on, it’s an early assault on the visual senses, and best left to you to enjoy.

Once you’ve got past the cover, there are six chunks of thrash to enjoy here. I’d not heard the band’s self-titled debut EP but was familiar with the maniacal Head Transplant. If you asked me to describe Thrashsquatch’s music my immediate thoughts would be the bastard offspring of a particularly bad night’s sheet soiling between GWAR, Municipal Waste and Discharge (Jeez, sorry. That’s a disturbing image).

Anyway, to the music and the EP kicks off with Human Compost, which provides an interesting take on recycling. Not the fastest song on the EP, there’s a bit going on here with the guitars spiralling all over the place whilst the lyrics are spat out, leading to the typical shouted chorus. The semi-sinister feel to the song works well.

Head Transplant slaps you around the face quickly, an aural version of the Orange Man from the 1990s Tango adverts (Look it up kids!). After the humour of the opening two songs things get a
little more serious with the following songs Destroyer of Worlds and Hostile Force, two raw and feisty little beasts that fight and claw from start to finish. I think that’s a clip of Vincent Price at the end of Destroyer of Worlds which also earns an extra point. Both tracks reek of classic early thrash and I find that one of the most endearing things about this band. Honest, good fun and a good bit of punk tinged thrash. What’s not to like?

Short and sharp, Thrashsquatch round this EP off with two quick punches to the solar plexus. Shreds of Sanity is explosive, all snarly riffs and aggression whilst the closing song Skeleton Men is a slower more chaotic track which kicks into a circle pit inducing riff after the first minute.

Enjoyable from start to finish, the beast’s emergence from the dark woods is well worth a listen.

Good stuff!

Thrashsquatch! The Return Of The Living Shred is out on New Years Day, get your limited pre-order in now via BandCamp here –

https://thrashsquatch.bandcamp.com/album/the-return-of-the-living-shred