ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Full Length Review: 25th Mission "Disciples Of Metal" (Independent) by Reverend Faustus Kain

Band: 25th Mission
Location: East Meadow, New York
Country: USA
Genre: Heavy metal
Full Length: Disciples Of Metal
Format: Digital album
Label: Independent
Release date: July 15, 2020
Like every metalhead ever to exist, I too am always on the look out for new music. I sometimes get bored with the mainstream acts as there’s really and truly only a few modern acts that catch my attention. Bands like In This Moment, Beast in Black, Amon Amarth and Ghost are my go-to modern bands. Unfortunately modern metal bands just don’t pack the same punch as older metal bands. My journey into metal began when I was a boy with my mother blasting AC/DC’s Back in Black, Metallica’s Black Album, Ozzy’s Blizzard of Ozz and frequently talked about dropping acid at a Dio concert and having the worst trip of her life. Naturally I was baptized in the icy rivers of metal and rebellion at an innocent age and for that I salute my mother. 
My “source” of musical inspiration would have to befall that of Black Sabbath, Dio, Ozzy Osbourne, Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Each member of those bands have helped me along my ways of music and being the inspiration behind me picking up my first axe, which was an acoustic First-Act my mother got me from a second hand store somewhere in my hometown. Now, I am a doom metal guitarist that rocks an ESP LTD Black Metal with Black Winter Pick Ups routed into a massive Marshal Stack and a pedal board to gives me the best fuzz sound that tickles my fancy. Needless to say I am very picky when it comes to bands who proclaim to be in the same league as Priest, Maiden and Sabbath as that is a high bar to set and an image that is hard to fill. In listening to 25th Mission, some songs hit well within their target range while others fall dramatically short. It’s Metal, it’s not meant to be perfect and when you listen to a band thinking they are going to be “just like” another band, you’ll find yourself disappointed as each band has their own flavor and it’s borderline impossible to be “just like” anyone else that had the urge to pick up a guitar and who had the blood lust to continue playing. So when I say they fall dramatically short of Judas Priest or Iron Maiden, that’s actually a good thing.
Metal is supposed to have attitude, it’s supposed to challenge authority and it’s supposed to drop an air raid of sound on your ear holes. You know you’re doing good when you gotta take a moment to regain your bearings after leaving a metal show or after jamming out to metal full blast. 25th Mission brings an assault on the senses like Generals who have gathered in their masses to knock us on our fat asses with their relentless volley of thrash metal. They incorporate elements of doom metal into their thrash arsenal and that brings more terror to the battle field. This is not the band to listen to quietly, this is the kind of band that when you listen to them so does everyone within a block of you. This would be the act to see for a brutal mosh pit, badass women and a flow of booze that would only be fitting for metal royalty. While bands like this are a genuine dying breed, this band is still on the front lines keeping the old school relevant to the few who seek it out. 
So let’s talk about their new album “Disciples of Metal”. It’s a strong name to live up to and they prove their worth in their tracks. DoM has 15 tracks that get more and more intense starting with “Laid to Rest” and gets the train rolling towards their hardcore cover of Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues”. Their ferocity is on point and is comparable to Pantera, and while no one can top Dimebag’s legendary wielding of the battle axe; Mikey can lay down the vocals good enough that even Phil Anselmo might bust out in a grin. The train keeps moving to “Hit ‘em Again”, which is sort of a proper allegory for the increasing intensity of the album with every track that plays. Some of these songs hit like “Sad But True” and “Don’t Tread On Me” from Metallica’s Black Album, and incorporates screams that are common in Iron Maiden and like songs “Cemetery Gates” from Pantera. By this time “Bitchin’”, their 12th track on DoM, is surely going to be what your neighbors will be doing as you have this album cranked up. The things that I appreciate the most about this band are their composition, their ability to lay down beastly tracks and bring back an age of music that has all but been forgotten since the end of the 1980s, and to say it’s refreshing is the understatement of the decade. As the train nears the end of its journey their last song “Lunacy’s Son” leaps out of the ground like battle ready dwarves ready to take what’s theirs with a fast tempo and the same the ferocity that has been chugging along since “Laid to Rest” at the beginning of the album. 
15 songs on an album is an ambitious feat that they accomplished with relative ease, and the fact that they made it an ass whooping from start to finish is an accomplishment that not even modern mainstream acts can really fulfill. 25th Mission has only been around for a couple of years now and they’ve already got a killer following on Facebook. Soon they will be declaring war at music venues around New York State and beyond once again after Covid-19 comes to an end hopefully soon. I, for one, will make it a point to enlist at their next show and join their growing fanbase. 
So now I get into where I rate this band. I base my ratings on a 5 point scale, 1 being only worthy of the fire pit and 5 being the equivalent to the establishment of a new world religion; I judge bands and their albums based on musical composition, ferocity, stage presence and how well the album flows from start to finish. While other military themed bands such as Sabaton go a Power Metal route, 25th Mission does things a bit more brutally, and with all things considered I am compelled to give them a solid 4/5 and a double thumbs up. 25th Mission has set the bar high for only being two years old. -Reverend Faustus Kain

Lineup: 
Mike Deyhl: Vocals
Pat Picarsic: Lead guitar
Vinny Carollo: Bass
James Baldassano: Drums

Track list:
1. Laid to Waste
2. Signs from Above
3. Tantrum
4. Die before I Kill You (A Love Song)
5. Left Behind
6. Ode to Hardrada
7. Swingblade
8. We are the Ones
9. Every Mother's Nightmare
10. Folsom Prison Blues
11. Hit 'em Again
12. Bitchin'
13. Bullet in the Chamber
14. Shakedown
15. Lunacy's Son

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