Holy thrash revival… Although their band is (intentionally?) named after an Arch Enemy song, Savage Messiah are not another melo-death worship act, but one of the current wave of bands re-doing thrash metal with modern production and a hindsight perspective on what works for the genre.

Think equal parts Testament and Cowboys From Hell-era Pantera, with healthy quantities of (old) Metallica and Megadeth thrown around. Obviously one could also point out the influence of Kreator, Exodus, and a million others, but for everyone’s sake I’ll keep this a review and not a novel.

The Testament thing comes across really strongly in the riffing, but also in the production values, as Savage Messiah seemed to have learned from 1999’s The Gathering that thrash is best when thick, meaty, and tighter than a witches cleft. Everything on Insurrection Rising sounds killer as a result.

The Pantera elements are clear as soon as the vocals come in. People often wonder what happened to Phil Anselmo’s voice after Cowboys From Hell. Well, it sounds like he gave it to Dave Silver of Savage Messiah. Also similarly to everyone’s favorite Texans, Savage Messiah show no fear of sliding into some acoustic sections with bluesy or melodic solos. Their songwriting shows just enough variety to stay interesting while keeping the thrash engine rolling.

The Metallica and Megadeth influence, well… can you really even write thrash metal without sounding like those bands in some way? Big ball riffs man, that’s all I have to say.

You might think by reading this review that there is nothing new to hear on Insurrection Rising if you already own Master Of Puppets, Rust In Peace, Cowboys From Hell, and The Gathering. You’re right, there isn’t. I don’t think Savage Messiah’s goal is to revolutionize anything though, and they re-deliver thrash in such a great way that it’s worth letting those old classics log a bit of shelf time while the new dogs show you what they’ve got.

4.5/5