Are you like me? Are you in the mood to have your head ripped off with a rusty hacksaw and then booted around the room like a filthy soccer ball while the stump of your neck spurts gore in sync with some tasty riffs? Yeah, I thought so. Well, I can fix you right up, because the song we’re about to premiere from Armament will do all of that, and then some.
Actually, if the part about the rusty hacksaw makes you a little queasy, the odds are you’ll bang your head hard enough to “Gas Chamber” that it will come right off on its own.
Armament are a thrash band from India, and this track we’re premiering comes from their debut EP, First Strike, which will be released next month. The term “thrash” covers a lot of territory, but in this instance we’re talking about the kind of vicious, super-charged mayhem that brings to my addled mind Arise-era Sepultura while also bowing to the pantheon of Teutonic thrash gods such as Sodom and Destruction.
“Gas Chamber” opens in full-throttle mode, the drummer’s pistons firing on all cylinders, the whirring riffs cutting like a jet-fueled chainsaw, and the vocalist rasping in a fit of poisonous rage. But the real headbanging kicks in at the 1:30 mark when Armament shift gears into a jolting, staccato rhythm, segmented by another burst of speed and an incendiary guitar solo. You’d have to have ice water in your veins not to get heated to a boil by the energy Armament unleash on this song.
First Strike will be released by Transcending Obscurity India on September 10 and can be pre-ordered in digital form via the Bandcamp link below or on CD at this location. That Bandcamp page includes a stream of another song from First Strike, and you can listen to that one below as well. Have fun.
http://transcendingobscurityindia.bandcamp.com/album/first-strike-thrash-metal
https://www.facebook.com/armament666
9 Responses to “AN NCS PREMIERE: ARMAMENT — “GAS CHAMBER””
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This Kicks much Ass! I don’t really hear any “ARISE” here but still a great throwback thrash band. My biggest complaint is the production. Something with the guitars and drums…Not mixed the best but overall killer jams!
This is why I usually refrain from dropping references to other bands. It seems I often hear things no one else hears. 🙂
At the risk of being a sycophant, I totally hear Sepultura here. I just A/B’d this tune and “Arise,” and production-wise, they could have been recorded during the same session to my ears.
I actually did the same thing before I wrote the post to make sure my memory wasn’t playing tricks on me. Also, “Arise” is such a fucking great song. 🙂
This is killer, a great way to start my Friday 🙂
Definitely my kind of throwback thrash. Almost reminds me of Hell Awaits at times, and the vocalist sometimes evokes earlier Tom G. Warrior, at least for me.
Apart from the need for quality riffs, the vocals are usually make-or-break for me when it comes to thrash — and these are definitely in the right vein for my tastes, too.
Thanks so much for the great write up and cheers to the others here for the amazing support! The CDs are very limited fyi!
If you lile Old School thrash, you’ll like it.