Germany’s Speedwhore are not quite ready to join the 21st century. Other than the obvious concession of releasing their second full-length, Visions of a Parallel World, digitally, these dudes are pretty happy to dwell in the dawn of thrash and black metal, circa 1985. Everything from the tuneage–imagine Dark Angel circa We Have Arrived via the dirtiest parts of the NWOBHM–to the demo-quality analog mastering job screams 80s underground. The Berlin-based quartet–Marcel (drums), Alex (guitars), Tim (bass/vocals), Leo (guitars)–are fully dedicated to the old school and we are fully here for it.
There’s no clowning on Visions of a Parallel World; this is some seriously inspired adherence to the “ancient” methods of metal making. The album sounds like any number of records released on Combat, Noise, Metal Blade and other indies during extreme metal’s first blush. You can pick this up on CD or download it digitally on May 26 (via Dying Victims), but we feel like this would best enjoyed on vinyl or cassette which are also available. Preorder it here.
Here’s what the band had to say about their latest release:
“With a new line-up and letting go of strict boundaries of thrash metal, or any subgenre of metal respectively, we came up with the slowest, fastest, heaviest and quirkiest soundscapes we’ve created so far. While not a concept album in the traditional sense, the album’s title served as a guiding light, aiming to evoke a vivid atmosphere, where the music intertwines with a more storytelling, lyrical approach. The album was moreover recorded entirely live, without using a single click track to keep it as natural and organic as possible. Mastering directly onto analog two-track tape gave us the final sound we were aiming for.”
