Hutch heads to Berlin for the first of his reviews in the coming weeks from German Thrashers, here’s what he thinks of their sophomore outing…

I’d never heard of these four thrashers before Left in Shards arrived in the in-box. Exa? Nope. A quick search finds Exa are from Berlin, and annoyingly, they are all mere youngsters in the game. Well, that’s not strictly true, but mid-20s is over quarter of a century in the past for me. Apparently forming as a school band as recently as 2016, they also won a Metal Hammer newcomer contest in 2018 with their Ignite EP, followed quickly by debut album Cut the Past. They’ve had some big support slots, Power Trip, DRI, Nervosa, Gruesome, Pro – Pain and Misery Index amongst them, so what is that difficult second album sounding like then?  

Well, truth is, it’s predictable in many places, albeit with the odd jagged edge to keep you on your toes. Opener Return to Madness is all snarls and feisty riffs, aggression up front and in your face. This evaporates with second track Under His Eye, although this is a more measured and thoughtful track, with some neat guitar work over a slower, more expansive song that sees singer Tom Exa [real name – Tschernig] at the outer limits of his vocal comfort zone. As the album progresses, his gravel-soaked roars become more tolerable, and by the end of the album I think they’ve soaked into the psyche enough to feel right. 

This is a band who draw deeply on Bay Area influences, more so that the Ruhr enclaves of Sodom and Kreator although there is a nod now and then to their countrymen as the album progresses [Cease to Exist the best example on the album]. Now, this isn’t a bad thing, for the Exodus and Metallica feel make for a decent album in many ways. Short, sharp tracks like Dead Child’s Eyes, Hire and Fire, Witch Hunt and the explosive title track are all perfectly enjoyable, and I bet if you saw them at a festival you’d be in the pit and telling all your mates about the future of thrash that you’ve just seen. Musically tight, there’s not a lot wrong with the musicianship; not a lot at all. It’s just all been done a million times before. 

But before I get too miserable, I’ll back up a little, for the final track King Terror has some real heft. A gorgeous groove that pulses throughout, it’s a fine track with no little melody that works well with the main riff, Tom Exa’s lead work and his gruff singing. It’s killed by the fade, something that shouldn’t happen, but apart from that, it’s a song that has been promised all album. 

Overall, this is an album that is perfectly enjoyable. The band are decent musicians, they play to their strengths, and they possess a solid level of thrash writing. It doesn’t grab me as hard as I’d like, but it’s certainly an album that I had no desire to turn off or skip tracks. In fact, the more I played it, the better it got. So, maybe it’s got that ‘grower’ potential. If I was scoring it, I’d be giving it around a 7.5 – 8, which ain’t too bad in my book.  

Exa – Left In Shards is released on February the 9th