Review Summary: Beautiful evil, hail to darkness
Sometimes, excellence simply lies in doing the fundamentals exceptionally well. I never imagined a more recent death/thrash metal band would impress me as much as when I first listened to
Epidemic of Violence,
Pleasure to Kill, or
The Awakening, but that did happen with Chilean Ripper’s second full-length album,
Experiment of Existence, in 2016. Ever since, I have regarded the band’s formidable combination of razor-sharp Teutonic thrash with the muscle of death metal as one of the most dependable in the scene. Now operating with a completely new line-up apart from founder Patricio Spalinger, Ripper returns with
Towards Rebirth, and immediately triggers a familiar excitement.
The record builds upon compact, palm-muted riffs on a tireless forward drive, where chugging rhythms frequently erupt into sinister melodic phrases linked to concise yet expressive solos, almost constantly at unwavering fast tempos. Numerous harmonic details remain concealed beneath the direct violence of this rather straightforward death/thrash metal album, which never allows the listener to settle before another powerful and memorable riff appears.
Towards Rebirth’s production is the clearest the band has ever embraced, addressing the few loose ends on the matter (at least, compared to
Experiment of Existence) with improved clarity that only amplifies the impact of the performances.
Influences are hardly difficult to identify, yet Ripper are not interested in historical recreation. Thankfully, the band makes use of well-tested ingredients through a modern sound and fueled by the ever-reliable South American anger, to present the record with confidence and unique identity. I’d say the tracks lean more on the heavier side of thrash metal, having an underlying old-school death metal flavor reinforced by that characteristic rasp of the vocals.
A brief keyboard introduction on “The Secular Awakening” gives way to the explosive “World of Darkness”, and from that point onward, the pummeling never really quiets down. Tracks like “Towards Rebirth”, the repetitive “Final Hologram”, and “Memories From the Other Side” show Ripper’s ability to transform seemingly simple ideas into overwhelming displays of force. Right in the middle of
Towards Rebirth is one of its most competent and well-written pieces, “Into the Coldness of Land of Dead”, and the only moment where a delicate bass solo intervenes to briefly interrupt the assault arrives somewhere midway through “The Source Exterminator”.
The band’s compositional mastery is fully demonstrated with the six-minute instrumental “The Secret Dawn”, followed by the highlight track “The End of Universe”, which easily has the strongest guitar lines on the entire record. At times, the positively blazing and speed-driven riffs even reminded me of Hellripper, particularly the opening melodies of the final track “Procession to the Eternal Rest”, albeit supported by more death metal-ish vocals.
All in all,
Towards Rebirth is a tightly constructed, expertly performed set of ferocious tracks that captures everything exhilarating about death/thrash metal today, without sounding redundant. I have to re-visit
Experiment of Existence and remind myself of its marvels, yet I’m quite confident this may now be the ultimate Ripper album, and an excellent execution of old-school extreme metal delivered with a dry, martial punch. Welcome back.
