{"id":12957,"date":"2013-06-11T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T00:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=12957"},"modified":"2013-07-18T16:15:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-18T16:15:31","slug":"album-review-power-trip-manifest-decimation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-power-trip-manifest-decimation\/","title":{"rendered":"POWER TRIP – Manifest Decimation (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

POWER TRIP
Manifest Decimation<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSouthern Lord (2013)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s nothing original about Southern Lord\u2019s Texan combo Power Trip, and I\u2019m quite surprised to hear such a band turning up on such a label. I mean, Southern Lord have often reminded me of some of the doomier, sludgier aspects of metal, but Power Trip are far removed from that scene.<\/p>\n

Now, Power Trip has been around since 2008, but Manifest Decimation<\/em> is the debut full-length opus from the quintet, and to cut to the chase, this is very much crossover thrash by numbers \u2013 nothing less, and certainly nothing more. Eight tracks on offer, all of which are very much in the vein of bruising hardcore and punchy, punky thrash \u2013 think Suicidal Tendencies-meets-Cromags-meets-D.R.I. et al.<\/p>\n

Thankfully however, despite the derivative nature of it all, it\u2019s still a crunchy and reasonably hostile affair bolstered by the aggressive vocals of Riley Gale and twin guitar attack of Blake Ibanez (leads) and Nick Stewart (rhythm). So, fans of old school crossover thrash will certainly look at this opus in two ways \u2013 one, that it\u2019s just another modern mimic lacking ideas, or two, that it\u2019s a complimentary nod to the old school and keeps the mosh pit sweat flying.<\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019m finding this eight-tracker entertaining yet lacking thrills. For instance, the opening title cut is a half-decent chugger, while \u2018Conditioned To Death\u2019 begins like some lost Slayer<\/a> track with Chris Ulsh\u2019s ominous drum. The riffs are sharp and forceful, but the overall result leaves me feeling rather flat despite the occasional gang chants and speedier thrash moments.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Hammer Of Doubt\u2019 (the longest and probably the fastest track on the record) and \u2018Murderer\u2019s Row\u2019 are the album\u2019s highest points in my opinion. Both tracks offer some devilish guitar work and aggressive vocal sneers, but there\u2019s nothing going on here that will allow Power Trip to stand out from the already overcrowded modern thrash scene.<\/p>\n

The band are more than happy to nod to Slayer one moment and then Black Flag the next, but they do need to find something in-between that enables them to shine and so I see this frantic and belligerent record as a way of testing the waters. I\u2019m hoping a number of fans jump onboard, but the issue here is that Power Trip, despite their loud-mouthed approach, don\u2019t have the songs to make any real impact.<\/p>\n

\u2018Heretic\u2019s Folk\u2019, with its speed metal openings, and \u2018Drown\u2019 are brimming with attitude and tight musicianship, but they aren\u2019t songs we\u2019re going to be spitting 20 years down the line like we\u2019ve been doing with the likes of Suicidal Tendencies and D.R.I.. And that\u2019s the major problem with so many of these newer bands \u2013 while they fully appreciate the past, they don\u2019t have the quality to set themselves aside from the long shadows cast all those years ago by the great bands I\u2019ve already mentioned.<\/p>\n

Manifest Decimation<\/em> is a terse little record that hits hard in an instant, but fails to leave a bruise on the brain.<\/p>\n

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

POWER TRIPManifest Decimation Southern Lord (2013)Rating: 6\/10 There\u2019s nothing original about Southern Lord\u2019s Texan combo Power Trip, and I\u2019m quite surprised to hear such a band turning up on such a label. I mean, Southern Lord have often reminded me of some of the doomier, sludgier aspects of metal, but Power Trip are far removed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,641],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-power-trip"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12957","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=12957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12960,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12957\/revisions\/12960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}