Manchester boys making some noise (yeah, I went there — sue me) — Hellblazer are back, and this time they’ve come armed to the fucking teeth. Their second full-length, Darker Fates, is a ten-track onslaught of unrelenting, old-school Thrash Metal fury — plus the obligatory intro track to kick things off and lull you into a false sense of security before everything goes completely nuclear. Think classic Thrash — razor-edged, aggressive, and dripping with blood and intestines — but played with the kind of modern power and precision that makes your speakers beg for mercy.
If you’re wondering what this sounds like, imagine if Slayer’s Repentless got dragged down a dark Manchester alleyway, mugged, given a pint of Vodka, and told to play faster, harder, and louder. That’s Darker Fates. This is music designed to cause bodily harm — all jagged riffs, blast furnace drumming, and vocals that sound like they’ve been ripped straight from the throat of a man who gargles barbed wire for fun.
From the opening moments of Pull the Card (which serves more as a countdown to chaos than an actual song) into The Witch, Hellblazer make it very clear that subtlety isn’t on the fucking menu. The guitars are savage — all down-picked chug and lightning-speed fretwork that hits like a pub fight in full swing. There’s no pretence, no atmospheric buildup beyond the opening track, no bullshit. It’s straight to the point and straight for the jugular.
The rhythm section deserves serious praise here too. The drumming is a standout — tight, relentless, and genuinely punishing. Blast beats and double kicks lock into riffs so perfectly that you can practically feel your bones crumble to dust. The bass sits perfectly in the mix, thick and meaty, giving the entire record that bottom-end weight that so many modern Thrash records forget in favour of over-polished production. Hellblazer don’t make that mistake — this thing sounds alive, raw, and violent.
Vocalist Ash Allen (and I say this with the utmost respect) sounds like he’s spent the past decade smoking brimstone. His voice has that perfect Thrash snarl — halfway between a bark and a scream — but with enough grit to carry real menace. There’s attitude behind every word, a swagger that says, “yeah, we know exactly what we’re doing, and if you don’t like it, tough shit.”
What really works about Darker Fates is how it manages to pay homage to the classic era of Thrash without sounding like a nostalgia act. Sure, there are nods to Slayer, Testament, Sepultura, and even Pantera (who aren’t Thrash so don’t at me in the comments) on the track Afflicted, but there’s something distinctly British about this album — that damp, dirty, industrial aggression that seeps through the riffs and gives everything a grimy authenticity. You can almost smell the rain, the smoke, and the stale lager in the rehearsal room.
Tracks like Stoneheart and A Darker Fate are pure Thrash excellence — the kind of songs that make you want to smash pint glasses and stage-dive into traffic, but there’s also a groove here that proves Hellblazer can do more than just speed. There’s genuine craft here — a sense of control amid the chaos that shows just how tight Hellbearer really are. This sounds like a live band tearing through the set with fire in their eyes, and that’s exactly how it should.
This isn’t just a good Thrash Metal record — it’s a fucking good Thrash Metal record. Hellblazer aren’t here to reinvent the genre; they’re here to remind you why it fucking ruled in the first place.
Darker Fates by Hellbearer is available October 17th.
CHOICE CUT: Through an Orphans Eyes
BLACK METAL ARCHIVES VERDICT: Pure, unfiltered Thrash Metal violence from the grim streets of Manchester. Darker Fates doesn’t just hit hard — it hits like a train full of TNT. Old school fire, new school fury. Turn it up and prepare for war.
PRESS SOURCE: Imperative PR.
