Album Review: Envenomed - The Walking Shred (2019)

Melbourne's Envenomed stand for Heavy Thrash Metal. The four-piece band have played fast, melodic and brachial sound since 2005, and now the time has come for their second longplayer "The Walking Shred" which was released via El Puerto Records in June this year.

The sound on Envenomed's "The Walking Shred" is based on massive, intense, but harmonic Thrash Metal compared to Accept or Kreator. The foundation of Envenomed's music is a brachial layer of super fast drum beats and highspeed riffing. On top they add melodic licks and soli sounding like the hayday of New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Envenomed decorate this metallic monster with Anthony's powerful voice that can both be compared to Udo Dirkschneider, and Uli Jon Roth.

"The Walking Shred" contains a dozen tracks that speed along the playtime of almost one hour. Variety is given by different intensity and tempo of the songs. Their style mostly stays similar. Envenomed present typical Heavy and Thrash Metal on "The Walking Shred". Their new album is not the reinvention of the metallic wheel, but it is definitely fun listening to. Strong and powerful shreds go along with the massively galopping drums, and mix up with pentatonic leads. This is music to bang your head to, no doubt.

The tracks 'Rebellion', 'All that remains', and 'Sacrifice' may be the best examples for the straightforward style of Envenomed. The track 'Metal United' on the other hand marks the lowlight of "The Walking Shred", in my opinion. Its Trve Metal attitude just does not please me. Also, the ballad 'Fate closes the Door' seems a little misplaced. Nevertheless, this is a good piece of heavy metallic art inviting its listeners to bang their heads and raise the glasses.