{"id":30498,"date":"2015-02-25T00:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-02-25T00:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=30498"},"modified":"2015-06-04T19:56:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T19:56:06","slug":"ep-review-various-artists-the-big-teutonic-4-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-various-artists-the-big-teutonic-4-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"VARIOUS ARTISTS – The Big Teutonic 4: Part II EP (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Big Teutonic 4: Part II EP<\/strong><\/span>
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\nNuclear Blast (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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If anyone ever asks me for a lesson on German thrash metal, then in future I think I\u2019ll just point them in the direction of this four-track compilation EP. Kreator, Sodom, Destruction<\/a> and I guess to a lesser extent Tankard, were the European equivalent, or more so opponents to, US thrashers Metallica, Megadeth<\/a>, Slayer<\/a> and Anthrax, who were the original \u201cBig Four\u201d as touted by the press and fans. <\/p>\n

Tankard were certainly highly regarded for their beer-drinking thrash romps, but for me were not in the same league as the above German trio and decades later \u2013 for me, anyway \u2013 they remain thrash titans, probably up there with Overkill, Exodus and Testament for keeping the true thrash flames alive, although it is no doubt still a very controversial subject when it comes to naming the best or truest thrash titans. <\/p>\n

Anyway, politics aside, this excellent although brief EP throws together the four German behemoths who in turn present to us some classic cover versions. The release (obviously) follows on from a first volume which saw Kreator cover \u2018The Number Of The Beast\u2019 (Iron Maiden), Sodom presenting \u2018Iron Fist\u2019 (Mot\u00f6rhead), Destruction coming armoured with \u2018The Hammer\u2019 (Mot\u00f6rhead) and Tankard covering \u2018The Prisoner\u2019 (Iron Maiden). <\/p>\n

This time round we get more recognisable British classics, with Kreator speeding through Raven\u2019s \u2018Lambs To The Slaughter\u2019, Sodom belting out Tank\u2019s \u2018Don\u2019t Walk Away\u2019, Destruction puking up Saxon\u2019s \u2018Princess Of The Night\u2019 and Tankard bringing \u2018Iron Maiden\u2019 from… do I really need to say?<\/p>\n

Okay, so I\u2019m assuming these aren\u2019t new covers. After all, I\u2019ve heard Kreator\u2019s version of \u2018Lambs To The Slaughter\u2019 numerous times, and first heard it on their 1988 EP Out Of The Dark… Into The Light. For me, it still remains a gem of a cover, with Mille Petrozza\u2019s vicious vocal sneer adding extra levels of dehydration to John Gallagher\u2019s original spout. <\/p>\n

Destruction\u2019s cover of the old Saxon chestnut also works; more so musically, because there\u2019s no arguing that Saxon were so influential to so many thrash bands all those dusty years ago. \u2018Princess Of The Night\u2019 works as a thrashier groove, especially since Destruction has over time appreciated the art of melody. As for Tankard\u2019s take on the classic Iron Maiden track, well, this works too as Gerre\u2019s vocals inject a boozy, riotous nature while the galloping riff and drum remains clinical and quite honest to the original. <\/p>\n

I guess of all the tracks, the only one which doesn\u2019t sit well with me is Sodom\u2019s take on Tank\u2019s \u2018Don\u2019t Walk Away\u2019 because although musically it remains a boozy bar room mash up, I expected more grease from a band who recorded Mot\u00f6rhead\u2019s \u2018Iron Fist\u2019 so well. Maybe the vocal from Tom Angelripper seems a tad tame or Sodom have simply picked the wrong tune to cover, but there\u2019s still that oily menace in the riff and a nice hiss in the drum. At the end of the day though, it\u2019s all for fun and frolics, and thrash collectors everywhere should be snapping up this quartet of tunes.<\/p>\n

Those of you just getting into metal should most certainly check out the originals first, because if it weren\u2019t for them then we simply wouldn\u2019t have the Big Teutonic Four. While not a necessity for general fans of any of the bands, this compilation is good to drink a few cans to after a hard day\u2019s toil.<\/p>\n

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

VARIOUS ARTISTSThe Big Teutonic 4: Part II EP Nuclear Blast (2015)Rating: 7\/10 If anyone ever asks me for a lesson on German thrash metal, then in future I think I\u2019ll just point them in the direction of this four-track compilation EP. Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and I guess to a lesser extent Tankard, were the European […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2144],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-various-artists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30498","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=30498"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30501,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30498\/revisions\/30501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}