There must still be a market for old-school thrash; otherwise labels like Greece's Secret Port Records wouldn't be releasing albums like Verdict Denied's Condamned. Granted, some impressive progressive tendencies rear their ugly heads throughout the eight songs on this Greek quartet's debut, and Annihilator's Jeff Waters produced this thing to sound sufficiently serrated and suffocated. But while the gloomy ballad-turned-pulverizing headbanger "This Soul of Black Is Mine" slows things down a bit, Billy Coumreau's shaky vocals condemn — or should I say "condamn" — the performance.
When it takes a band 14 years to snag a record deal (Verdict Denied formed in 1995 and released demos in 1997, 2001 and 2003 before finally getting signed and releasing its first album this year), you know you can find better bands doing a better job of making this kind of music. Verdict: Denied.
Track Listing:
1) Fake Alibies
2) Dark Twisted Laughter
3) This Soul of Black Is Mine
4) 94 x 1 Vain (They Return)
5) Black Tango
6) Twisted and Menacing My Stare
7) Battle Within
8) The Last Act
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