Formed in 1996, thrash-death formation Methedras hail from Milan, Italy. This five-piece began their early career performing covers of bands like Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica and Testament. Heavily influenced by these American metal bands, the Italians began writing their own songs, an effort which would sprout two full-lengths to date. Our subject of dissection today is their second full-length, The Worst Within. Let’s have a listen!

‘Free to Hate’ immediately reminds me of the new Testament (I’m sure you know what I mean… nitwits). Metal thrashing mad is the right phrase, although cliché. The latter is not what I’d label Methedras, seeing the production of this album is really good. But alas, as many bands in the same genre, this one doesn’t do much out of the book either. Most songs are straightforward thrash ‘n bash-material, but ‘Estd. 1996’ was a nice touch. The Spanish guitar sounds like a breath of fresh air, only to be immediately followed up by the heavily loaded ‘No More Rules’. Lyrically, Methedras spill their guts over today’s society and all its misfits. Again, nothing special, but it does suit the music quite well. There’s very tight riffing with lots of fast head bang moments, followed by slower parts that let the music sink in. The guitars are growling just as deep as vocalist Claudio, which is a really good combination. One thing that could use a little improvement are the guitar solos, which are in between of sounding like Slayer-esque sloppiness and tight loops. Personally, I’d suggest to make them sound sloppy. With this kind of music, you don’t want to hear even a hint of melody in a solo. There’s already lots of goody-goody-two-shoes guitarists out there; sometimes a man just wants to thrash out. Period.

The band made a good effort to fit in next to big names within the genre. Yet, standing out is hard these days and it needs to be said that Methedras does not. But if you’re a fan of thrash metal with a healthy dose of growling death mixed in, you’re sure to dig this album. It most likely won’t stand out in your collection, but it’s worthy of being checked out.