When Estertor got back together in 2011, the Spanish thrashers knew that playtime was over, and it was time to begin learning to dance to their own toxic waltz. This year has Estertor returning for the first time since their 2017 debut album ‘Buried in Morningside’ to deliver their long awaited follow up ‘Tales from the Ancient Grave’.
What the listener gets with ‘Tales… is a huge thrash fanfare, a wake-up call which blasts any cobwebs of tiredness away. This isn’t your typical “I love Metallica” Bay-Area thrash metal or the “actually… I only listen to Teutonic thrash” contrarian, ‘Tales…’ is an album which yes, takes in ‘some’ of that Euro sound, but it is considerably more akin to thrash acts which dabbled in speed and black metal. Tracks such as ‘Nocturnal Strigoi’, ‘Keeper of Hell’ and ‘Blood for Sheetar’ all carry the vibe of Venom, Celtic Frost and Hellhammer whilst also appealing to the likes of Midnight and Motörhead as well as early Sodom and Slayer. In fact, ‘Tales…’ will probably the best Venom, non-Venom album that the listener will hear all year as vocalist Edu prowls the speakers delivering not only his best Cronos slur, but also his best Tom G. Warrior snarl.
Estertor have released an excellent album of thrash metal, fuck, it won’t do anything for the unconverted, it’s not a highly polished release of modern thrash, but it is raw, it is dark, and it is fucking good.
