Maximum Metal Rating Legend

End of Man Power, Corruption, and Lies Company: Pit of Death Release: 2008 Genre: Thrash Reviewer: Hail and Kill

Packs everything to expect from an honest Thrash band

There's just so much Thrash Metal out in the market these days, it's difficult to choose which albums deserve your fawning attention. This little gem of a debut from the Philippines also wants it badly, but you'll be hard-pressed to embrace it once the sense of "having-heard-it-all-before" kicks in at first listen.

Sporting a cool and original album title the five warm bodies behind this punishing debut go about the business of thrashing like their 80's idols. You have Joey Belladona-era Anthrax vocals, lots of cracking drums at breakneck speed, and riffs that would make the Kreator guys proud. Certainly not bad things in the 30 minutes of punishing decibels at hand, especially when you hear them all coming together on such gems as "Questioning," "Invocation of the Flesh," "Pit of Death" and "Hate Attrition," which gently recedes to its finish with acoustic driven balladry. A bit of adventurousness also waits for the listener on the token few-second's worth of bluesy guitar solos and Lamb of God riffs tucked somewhere inside the album's running time.

Beyond the usual topics of death and destruction--and porn, yes, porn--the album's finer moments occur at the title track and near the end, especially with the massive "Pagkagat Ng Dilim." The lyrics are in the band's native Filipino, but the music's appeal is universal. It's a devastating stampede of savage decibels, huge guitars, and harsher lyrics. Hirax and Testament would be proud to hear their influence on this song.

End of Man's debut won't impress a lot of people, yet for the curious and open-minded, "Power, Corruption, And Lies" is a tempting buy. Ferocious, relentless, energetic; it packs everything to expect from an honest Thrash band. So don't be scared people, it will shred, but it doesn't bite.