I'm one of those people that judge a CD by its cover and a band by they're appearance and name; and this CD blew me away. I didn't expect this unheard of band from Japan to come out with a debut album like this, "A Mounting Crisis...." is a great way to kickoff a musical career. My first impression of these guys was that they sound like Slayer in a way. Don't get me wrong, no band can be as great or as amazing as Slayer but GRIEF OF WAR's sound reminded me of them.

 

They start the album with an air raid type scenario, sticking to the theme of war and leads into the first track. This whole CD is packed with: non-stop heavy riffs, fast guitar picking, high energy and great solos. Although some songs aren't as heavy as others, I would classify them as thrash metal(and good thrash metal at that). Songs like "Rat Race", "Blood Lust" and "Resist" show the true thrash metal side of GRIEF OF WAR. They close the album with a slow, yet still rather heavy track, ending in thunder and rain (I'd say that's a good way to end an album. (which also reminds me of Slayer's "Raining Blood".)

 

 

There is one mystery with this band though, I did some research and everywhere I looked shows the band with three members, none of which are on drums. Weird, but in any event, coming from a fan of slayer and all things heavy, your going to love this new album from these Japanese metal-heads. Although this album was released in Japan 3 years ago, I think it'll make quiet an impact here as well and we will be hearing from GRIEF OF WAR more in the future