In Rage
Built To Destroy

Convinced by my shopkeeper friend that this was a great thrash album with some “guys who really go hard,” I trusted him and bought it with my eyes closed. I arrived home and put on this BtoD debut album dated 2002 by the Swedes In Rage, born from the ashes of a band, the Lost Souls, which gathered little in the mid-'90s, but offered a technical metal (à la Meshuggah) that was definitely very interesting.

After the guitar intro, which only takes 50 seconds, we are hit in the face by the destructive fury of “Gift To Restore,” “Let Chaos In,” and “Life Denied.” Three acoustic boulders loaded with fast and powerful “riffs,” with a very well-calibrated screaming vocal that at times reminds us of Phil Anselmo and a lot of Peter Dolving (The Haunted). However, the vocals of Christer Salling, though less "crazy" than his compatriot, are always incisive, angry, and scratchy throughout the album, and in these early tracks, he gives us the coordinates of what he'll do throughout the album: urging us to shout the choruses with him and increase the anger of the songs.
The album continues with one of its most successful tracks with an '80s thrash attitude: “Ultra Violence.” The mid-tempo “Dead Heart Beating” brings us to less sustained rhythms but still leaves us with a beautiful leading riff and a chorus that quickly sticks in our heads. The title track is a sonic assault that leaves no escape and is enjoyable for the nearly 4 and a half minutes of the song: the intensity never drops until the end, pure thrash.

The album could conclude here, given the remarkable content of the first tracks heard so far, but we are still awaited by high-level pieces like “Inject The Venom,” “Survival Of The Fittest” (the best of the album), “I Go Alone,” and the final blow of “No Tomorrow.”

The price of the CD is more than repaid by what In Rage has to offer, and a good thrash connoisseur can only agree. Overall, it's certainly not an innovative album that lets us feel a “new thrash,” but there are many cues, and the compositional verve is certainly not lacking, and it's not the “usual” album from the “usual” Swedes. In short, despite the many echoes of the '80s bay area (Testament foremost), there is never a doubt that it is a plagiarism attempt of some well-known band from the past.
The immediacy and spontaneity proposed by these 5 Swedes, seasoned with a sovereign power almost always more important than pure speed, are to be praised.

It's not a fundamental album, but if you get the chance, give it a listen, and you won’t regret it. They really go hard.