Deathraiser, the Brazilian thrash metal band, began life as Merciless twenty years ago. They changed their name to Deathraiser in 2009 and released their debut album, “Violent Aggression”, in 2011. You can’t really say they’ve made the most of those two decades, as that record remained their only album—until now. The follow-up, “Forged in Hatred”, has finally arrived.
If nothing else, they’ve spent the time mastering their instruments: this lot can absolutely play. The riffs are sturdy and rough-edged from start to finish, and the sound is aggressive enough to hit hard. The problem is that I’ve written that same description about hundreds of thrash records over the last twenty years. That’s where Deathraiser fall short—there’s so little originality. There are just so many albums that sound exactly like “Forged in Hatred” that it’s hard to care. For all that, Deathraiser have delivered a good record here, but it’s also a thoroughly standard thrash album you’ve heard hundreds of times before.
Released January 22nd, 2026 on Xtreem Music.
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