{"id":103571,"date":"2024-07-16T00:00:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T23:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=103571"},"modified":"2024-07-19T10:43:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T09:43:14","slug":"album-review-ireful-agents-of-doom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-ireful-agents-of-doom\/","title":{"rendered":"IREFUL – Agents Of Doom (2024) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

IREFUL
Agents Of Doom<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nXtreem Music (2024)<\/span>
Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

I was extremely impressed by The Walls Of Madness<\/em> EP which was put out by this Italian thrash mob in 2021. I\u2019d almost forgotten about the Palermo-based quartet though until Xtreem Music announced the release of this full-length album, Agents Of Doom<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I hope you didn\u2019t miss Ireful first time round, their brand of thrash is, although plain and simple, both energetic and fun too, especially if you like a punky attitude married with some old Exodus under the leadership of Steve Souza. Strangely, this is the sort of record that if released in 1986 I might\u2019ve taken a gamble on but after a few spins got bored of. That\u2019s not to say that Ireful is a dull act, the posse provides plenty of mid-paced chunkiness alongside the Teutonic speed, but it\u2019s all relatively safe and conservative so I\u2019m sort of thankful the album runs for just 35 minutes.<\/p>\n

Within the timeframe you get a batch of reasonably strong songs, some of which feel expansive while maintaining grit, for example \u2018Blackhearted Master\u2019 with its Bay Area groove. In fact, it\u2019s as if one is listening to a low-key 80s import that you\u2019re glad you own in spite of its ability to gather dust on the shelf. Bursts of old Mordred, Heathen and Overkill blend nicely riff-wise while the vocals continue with their edgy snap.<\/p>\n

What this debut album lacks in identity or intricacy is more than made up for by its ability to simply thrash, with much of what\u2019s offered being catchy and crunchy. \u2018Exiles For Metal\u2019 is a real rager that hits hard in the percussion, but there\u2019s still time for a mid-tempo groove. The title track is brisk too, clean cut in its lead work and subtle in melody.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t believe any relatively new act can be the future of thrash because the past remains so potent, but if you want direct, concise and reliable metal then Ireful are your guys. I probably won\u2019t play this album until my dying day but I\u2019m playing it a lot right now.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IREFULAgents Of Doom Xtreem Music (2024)Rating: 7.5\/10 I was extremely impressed by The Walls Of Madness EP which was put out by this Italian thrash mob in 2021. I\u2019d almost forgotten about the Palermo-based quartet though until Xtreem Music announced the release of this full-length album, Agents Of Doom. I hope you didn\u2019t miss Ireful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5733],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-ireful"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103572,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103571\/revisions\/103572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}