Thrash Metal

UK

Releasing 30th October, 2026

Among the originators of the original UK thrash explosion, XENTRIX was at its epicentre.
Starting as Sweet Vengeance in 1984, Preston’s purveyors of pugilism changed name in 1988 and have since shared the same journey through the music industry’s peaks and troughs as many of their brethren. It is equally worth noting that they have been able to survive (albeit via two almost decade long hiatus’) and now thrive in thrash metal’s rightful place as a genre staple due to diligence and stubborn self belief.

Like those early bands, longevity has been achieved through experience and a keen ear for the scene’s appetites.
Scoff if you dare at such an approach but, I dare anybody to sign to one of the worlds most productive and successful indie metal labels at the time (Roadrunner), only to find the bubble burst and having to find a way to make a living in music due to fads and fiscal equities.

Dennis Gasser (drums) and Kristan Havard (lead guitar) dared such things, never gave up and now release their seventh album and third with bassist Chris Shires and vocalist/rhythm guitarist Jay Walsh, to an ever increasing fanbase of new and career long fellow believers.

Following from the highly regarded 2022 release, Seven Words, the quartet set upon the listener with eleven songs of discontent and aggressive outrage.
I mentioned earlier that knowing a genre’s changing tastes is valuable, but XENTRIX don’t fall into any Black Album or Diabolus In Musica tangent trap. ALLIED WITH THE ENEMY steers a clear path of thrash metal honestly and with bite.

The album itself begins with a refreshing moment where the intro piece is incorporated as one on RIP SAW. I’m not the biggest fan of separate intros. The build up to the initial charge should flow, and here, it works. Militant snare drumming and spoken samples make way to a high octane ode to spite.
The intention is clear and the message is blunt. This is an album made to galvanise a sound over depending on it.

If anybody was hoping for a return to a return to pre-millenium XENTRIX, you will have no problems digging in, but don’t think the band has waited for you. Tracks like KILLER UNKNOWN have a European flavour as opposed to the US leaning tendencies and, although BURIED REMAINS retains that classic XENTRIX DNA, with their attention to the UK thrash rulebook that they helped write, it is a great mix of original form and fresh ideas.
This gives the songs a distinct flavour favoured by fellow Prestonians, Solitary, helping give the area a distinct sound sometimes lost in the general thrash mode of thinking.

Elsewhere in the album, NIL BY MOUTH and DOOMSDAY HOOK have a stark, brutalist approach, straight to the point and executed with spec op precision. These exhibits make the expressive THE DARK ETERNAL come forward. The cleanly sung moments pivot the ears and brood with burning intent, before being thrust back onto the explosive anger of WHERE THE MADNESS LIES and the chaotic NO BRIDGES LEFT TO BURN.

What we are left with is little to argue against the fortitude and power of will that exists in thrash metal. Where many fell, many others hunkered down to bide their time and return harder, faster and angrier.
This turns out to be as advantageous for us, the listener, as it is the artist. It’s a win-win situation of a most beneficial nature that can only result in, like here, the best outcome for all.
Judging by the current trajectory, and the recent live presence of XENTRIX, this is just another venture into the halls of the thrash legacy.

ALLIED WITH THE ENEMY will release on the 30th of October on Listenable Records.

Pre-orders available from the XENTRIX Bandcamp on the following formats:

For CD, cassette, vinyl, vinyl and CD bundles or digital download, click HERE.

You can go to listenable.net and search “XENTRIX” for pre-orders as well.

Don’t forget to check it out on all major streaming services upon release.