FINAL CUT “Jackhammer”

Art Gates Records, 2019

Music: Technical Thrash Metal

Website: https://m.facebook.com/Finalcutband/

Duration: 42:09 minutes (10 tracks)

Country: Switzerland

Art Gates Records is one among the prominent record labels that I look up to, mainly because of their niche to find potential underrated gems from a huge heap of new bands, providing them enough support to help them reach mainstream stardom. Final Cut is one such band, which I found through Art Gates Records.

Final Cut, heavily influenced by Old School Thrash Metal, the 5-piece Swiss collective call their music “Violent Blues Thrash Massacre”, which was the prime reason as to why I took an interest in this band. On a saturated music industry with a little to no originality, I was curious to know how Blues Thrash would sound like. Formed in 2011, the band does possess a fair amount of experience which only made me reassure the authenticity behind their genre distinction as the guys have been playing the same for about 8 years.

Ever since their debut effort, the band has continuously tried to defy the generic norms of Thrash metal and their latest effort, Jackhammer explains their progress as an unconventional Thrash metal band. The album starts with a fiery fast single “Full Steam Ahead” which showcases the band’s flair in Thrash Metal as the song is embodied by a thrashy riff that holds the rest of the instrumentation which includes a beautiful guitar solo midway. The drumming is governed by blast beats and swiftly executed drum fills which compliment the guitars and bass, without getting them buried in the mix.

Now the real question is where is Blues in a song that uses blast beats and heavy riffage. Well, the band doesn’t believe in psuedonames nor do they use an attention-grabbing name. They make use of a beautiful Harmonica section to address their Blues side. To be honest, it really fits their sound. The song isn’t necessarily mellow but sufficiently heavy enough to boast a violent thrash sound. The back half of the album is as good as the first but if I have to pick one song in specific that I enjoyed listening, it has to be Creature. A subtle Thrashy track with Harmonica to lighten your mood whilst listening to this 10 track album. If only this song was the 5th or 4th track, it would have added a whole new experience for listeners, but hey, most of the listeners care less about the song placement.

That being said, Jackhammer is a well-crafted Tech Thrash guaranteed to melt listeners’ face with off-kilter riffs and traditional melodic guitar solos which proves that The Final Cut is bound to Cut their way through the Final 10 albums of 2019. They are Full Steam Ahead, Breaking Barriers and Regrets for a Guaranteed place at the list of emerging Thrash Metal artists to keep an eye out for!

Tracklist:

1 Full Stream Ahead
2 Creature
3 Break the Barriers
4 Momentum
5 Generation Y
6 Prejudices
7 Regrets
8 Grin
9 Die or Die, Guaranteed
10 Picasso’s Thoughts

Line-up:

Giulio Serratore – Vocals
Lukas Bühler – Guitars/Harmonica/Vocals
Christian Abt – Guitars
Christoph Krippel – Bass
Florian Brändle – Drums

Rate: 9.0/10