Premiere: Ripper – Sensory Stagnation
[*clears throat*]
RRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Thrashers rejoice! Today we’re pleased as fuck to present to you the new EP from the current kings of thrash, Chile’s riff vortex known as Ripper. Sensory Stagnation is the first material from the band since their universally lauded space-time warping shred-fest Experiment Of Existence. While it may have been unfair for us to collectively put so much hype and pressure on a young band delivering a follow-up to to just their second album, it is with great pleasure that I can announce they have delivered on Sensory Stagnation, and not just in the way you may have expected.
The first thing you’ll probably notice is Ripper’s slight shift forward from schizophrenic Sepultura thrash towards an atypical mixture merging Sadus-style shred and a more deliberate early 90’s Death metal sound. While the overt South American insanity still prevails, the 5 tracks are imbued with some more controlled direction and attention to technicality (à la Atheist). The bass presence is even stronger than previous efforts, with the serpentine fretplay evoking the quasi-lead work of a master such as Steve Di Giorgio himself. The resultant effect is immense. Ripper’s sinister sci-fi themes are perfectly suited to the increased compositional focus; like several photon beams being lensed towards a single point, their sound is now perhaps more devastating than ever. We mentioned how Unspeakable Axe could essentially rebrand as “Unbeatable Thrash” this year when we covered the first pre-release track a couple of months ago on the Riff-Raff Podcast, however if for some reason you’re a freak who is somehow undecided as to whether or not you’re into Ripper, I urge you to listen to the title track from this EP. You will not be disappointed.