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XENTRIX
Allied With The Enemy

Listenable (2026)
Rating: 6.5/10

Decades on from their initial thrash success, the ever-reliable U.K. thrashers Xentrix pump out another eagerly awaited full-length album. I’m big enough and ugly enough to admit that the Lancashire clan were never my favourite mob on the scene back in the day, and more recent releases have also left me cold. Unfortunately, Allied With The Enemy has a similar effect, even with its crunchy riffs and infectious melodies. Those early records, for example, Shattered Existence (1989), did little for me in spite of the hype and the solid live shows, but with their seventh album I just hear more of the same soulless metal, and it pains me to say it.

There’s no denying the potency of Andy Sneap’s production as each instrument is given space to breathe, but what’s apparent from the off is the dull familiarity of it all. No, I never expected some prog fused avant garde thrash, just something more inviting. Lead off singles ‘Allied With The Enemy’ and ‘Nil By Mouth’ arrive as expected, rather generic slabs, accompanied by the usual promo videos filmed in large, empty buildings. However much those drums gallop and riffs tighten, there’s little that stands out in such a crowded scene. Jay Walsh’s vocal grit doesn’t win me over either; it’s the standard mediocre tough exterior that fronts a horde of similar sounding acts.

I can already here the Xentrix fans foaming in disagreement, but it’s just an opinion of mine that I’ve applied many times over. Even so, there’s an abundance of clean, polished riffs to enjoy and more so with the mid-tempo barrages. The guys also bring a bombastic ethos, hinting at the epic with the likes of ‘No Bridges Left To Burn’, and there’s also drips of atmosphere, particularly with ‘The Dark Eternal’. You’ll also get hammered by the usual blunt thrash assaults, namely opener ‘Rip Saw’ and ‘Where The Madness Lies’.

Expect the usual traditional thrash tirades nodding towards the classic San Francisco Bay Area scene, but for me it’s the slower segments which litter the album that are the most entertaining. Every thrasher on the planet loves a good crisp chug and more so a smattering of tempo changes, as evidenced on ‘On Burned Remains’.

The band still inserts a few intriguing twists but with each passing masculine huff and puff I’m left nonplussed by the steel framework. Yes, it’s what Xentrix does best, and there’s no denying the chemistry the guys have as they deliver a myriad of sharp structures, but the contemporary coating gives me shivers; I’m on my ninth spin of the platter and still remain out of touch to its details.

Allied With The Enemy will please the thrash purists and Xentrix fans, but for me it’s just further proof as to why the lads never reached the dizzy heights of the genre.

Neil Arnold

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