Power Trip: Nightmare Logic (2017)
Who would have guessed, when thrash metal enjoyed its Third Millennium renaissance, that some of the most devastating and authentic-sounding San Francisco Bay Area-inspired mayhem would issue from these crusty bastards in Dallas, Texas?
Not me, that’s for sure, but I knew Power Trip were for real as soon as I saw them crashing (by invitation, mind you) the Roadrunner Records SXSW showcase in 2016 and nearly stealing the show from the label’s own artists.
I later included 2017’s Nightmare Logic among the ‘Top 50 Thrash Albums of All Time’ in a feature for Loudwire, writing: “Power Trip have distinguished themselves among the present-day keepers of thrash metal’s flame.”
And, unlike most of the other, new-ish bands chosen partly to play nice, Power Trip actually deserved it, based on this mighty impressive sophomore album’s compact consistency (in and out on 33 minutes!), headlined by bruising numbers like “Waiting Around to Die,” “Ruination” and “Crucifixation.”
Whether they were blindly breaking speed limits (“Firing Squad”) or even stepping off the gas a bit (“Executioner's Tax (Swing of the Axe)”), Power Trip instinctively understood how to mix and match dynamics, alternating tension and release, into quality songs one could actually remember.
And you just can’t teach that -- as most, far less imaginative neo-thrashers (see Sanctity, Bonded by Blood, Citizen Brain etc.) inadvertently illustrated with their oftentimes robotically executed carbon copies of the ‘80s masters, lacking even a crumb of natural human feel or soul.
Shit, I’ll go one step further: Power Trip even looked the part, by sporting the original thrash movement’s haven’t-showered-or-changed-clothes-in-a-week, anti-image ethos, while their ‘00’s contemporaries always seemed to be playing dress up after raiding Kirk Hammett’s closet.
So, I wasn’t surprised when Nightmare Logic found its way into many of 2017’s year-end, best-of lists, and in case you haven’t heard it, Power Trip’s 2013 debut, Manifest Decimation, is just as great!
Third album coming soon, I hear ...
Update: R.I.P. singer Riley Gale.
More Power Trip: Manifest Decimation.
