Interceptor- One with the Beast...Meet with the Damned.

Interceptor are an Italian 5-piece speed/thrash band. Usually when one thinks of Italy and Metal, one could conjure up images of Power Metal bands, but the boot-shaped country does tend to put out some good thrash bands as well. Sounds like a mixture of Testament and early Anthrax, it's certainly a nice break from the darker side of thrash. Hailing from the ancestral home of ruined empires and the progenitors of modern art and  music, Interceptor certainly shows they know what they're doing.

The EP is roughly 27 minutes long, not as long as a full-length but there's a enough material to keep you entertained on your commute to your mom's house. It's twenty-something odd minutes of all out thrashing. The one minute Intro starts out with a violin chaffing across the strings, very Italian, but it doesn't play a Paganini concierto either... Thrash!

 The first song, "2012," begins with a very chunky riff and a high-pitched scream, soon it blasts into full speed like a Lamborghini (Yes, I'm going to be making a lot of Italian references). In my opinion, there's only two years that can be sung about, 1984 and 2012. 2011 just doesn't haven't that catchy ring to it like 2012. There's little snippets of spoken parts in the song, like radio bits and news soundbites about impending doom, a little corny but it works to fill out. They blast into a nuclear bomb of a solo right after, so that makes up for it. Not a bad song overall.

The EP is certainly a balls-out speed album. However, they do have a lot of nice, chunky midtempo riffs. The title track is a prime example, it's got a nice beat to circle pit to and it speeds up towards the end for people to go nutty over. "Take It Out!" and "Drag Me To Hell" are certainly speed-fests, with the former being an amped up anthem of sorts. They're all 5-minute tracks, but the intensity and speed of them just makes it seem like you're blazing through them in no time at all. They tend to keep you busy and don't sound too monotonous as they change up the tempos and add some catchy choruses in there. The vocals are gruff but not harsh, they're in a early Chuck Billy/Hetfield vein so they're relatively clean. There are a few death growls in there, but they're used very sparingly so they shouldn't upset someone that doesn't like them prominently in a song. If they do upset you, fuck off and get over it.

Now, the last song on the EP, "See You in Hell," a Grim Reaper cover, was totally unexpected. I did enjoy the band up until that point, but I wasn't sure if they could pull it off as Grimmett's vocals in the original are pretty operatic. Well, they sure showed me! That track probably has to be one of my favorites off this EP. It's so well done, it wasn't a complete clone of the song as they managed to put their own spin on the song. Fantastic.

Now for my last words on the matter, I know, it's been lengthy. Pretty damn good overall, I have to say. The 5-minute songs are a wee bit overdone in my opinion, but that's being nitpicky. They don't exactly bring anything new to the table, but what's wrong with a nice,zesty plate of classic Italian thrash? Nothing, that's what.

7.9/10