US band PASADENA NAPALM DIVISON was formed back in 2008, but the most striking part of their history isn’t really when they were formed or their current history. It is the fact that the main instrumentalists have a past with a band called Dead Horse and that their vocalist used to sing with D.R.I. that are the biographical details most metalheads will be interested in. Pasadena Napalm Division released their self-titled debut album in 2013 through Minus Head Records and Graviton Music Services.

I’ll readily admit that I’m not all that familiar with either Dead Horse nor of D.R.I, although the latter name is familiar to me as an old metalhead. When listening to this album I couldn’t readily make associations to the past musical histories of it’s members, but what I heard gave me instant associations to another band, namely Nuclear Assault, and as I generally see them tossed into the same category of bands as D.R.I. I expect that the sound and style of this production will sound familiar also to fans of that band.

The name of the game here is thrash metal, for those who don’t know any of the bands name-dropped so far, and an intense variety of it at that. Generally speaking the band explore three different main modes of delivery. One of frantic riff driven passages, with fluctuating riffs moving at frantic pace and with occasional scale movements tossed in for good measure unless I’m much mistaken, and also with the guitar soloing delivered at the same breakneck speed. In these passages PND touch base with the even more extreme metal of good, old bands like Possessed, albeit without the menacing and crippling darkness of those kinds of bands involved I might add. The second main mode are slower paced sequences sporting a beefier and often dark guitar sound, regular thrash in terms of tempo, with room for more sophisticated drum patterns due to the slower tempo. At last the band will also slow down even further in pace, replacing again the slower tempo with even more massive guitar riffs.

Some of the sequences will have more of a hardcore feel to them with what sounds like shorter, more abrupt and staccato riff patterns and drum patterns of a more basic nature, but the main hardcore touch comes by way of the shouted and spoken lead vocals. It’s easy to tell that vocalist Kurt Brecht is an experienced hand in such matters, as he manage to convey the lyrics with a natural ease despite the fairly aggressive nature vocals of this kind have by default. A mediocre or poor vocalist would have been detrimental to music of this kind, but in Brecht we have a vocalist that manage to elevate the material due to, I surmise, sheer expertise as a result of talent and long experience.

Pasadena Napalm Division may not bring anything new or novel to the table, but their intense blend of thrash and hardcore is one that holds a high quality throughout. This is a band of seasoned musicians that know what they want to do and how to execute it in a self secure and convincing manner. Fans of bands like Dead Horse, D.R.I. and Nuclear Assault are all recommended to give this album a spin, as are those who generally enjoy frantic metal where thrash and hardcore are the main elements.

My rating: 80/100