Xentrix
For Whose Advantage?

THRASH ZONE: EPISODE IV

During the second half of the 80s (when thrash was an established genre), in Europe as well, the allure of this music began to captivate many young people who, duly prepared, started forming bands. Much of this enthusiasm found a home in the heart of German metal, and soon the famous Teutonic trio emerged (plus a myriad of "secondary" groups, nonetheless destined to become legends at least in the underground circuit). From this analysis alone, one should easily deduce that Germany is one of the main centers of world thrash, but it wouldn't be correct to only remember groups like Kreator, Sodom, Destruction, and it therefore becomes appropriate to broaden the discussion a bit more on European metal in the 80s, and randomly pick a country on the globe to discover that in the end, everyone gave a small contribution to this movement. The country randomly chosen this time is... Great Britain.

Great Britain, the land that saw the birth of heavy metal in general (plus many of its branches and subgenres), in those years gave rise to the much-vaunted Onslaught and Sabbat, D.A.M., Virus, and also Xentrix (these are at least the bands worth mentioning). It is precisely these last ones that I will talk to you about: they started this adventure by releasing "Shattered Existence" (their "Eternal Nightmare"), the most direct, powerful and immature, to then face copyright issues after releasing the single "Ghostbusters" (the original cover actually depicted the poster of the '84 movie), one of the songs most loved by their fans, to then achieve partial success and decent fame with this "For Whose Advantage?" (the most mature album, their "Ride the Lightning"), and then return to anonymity with the albums "Kin" and "Scourge" (recorded with a different lineup). In '96 they disbanded, reunited with the original lineup for some concerts, but in September of that year came the second and final disbandment. Of their essential discography, at least the first two albums and the EP "Dilute to Taste" should be remembered, remaining mini masterpieces of the genre in the British scene.

Starting to talk about their second album "For Whose Advantage?", it should be said that with this work, the band from Preston was about to write one of the most accessible and thoughtful pages of thrash as a whole. Their raw and melodic metal at the same time, their tempos (sometimes excessively) rhythmic, solos not always very fast (always played and interpreted in a personal key) and the limited use of tremolo picking are just some of the distinctive traits that distinguish the group's conception of metal in this album, but despite good will and a total presence of originality, they were not always free from allegations of plagiarism according to some purists of the genre, and perhaps this is one of the reasons why the band (led by Chris Astley) missed that fleeting moment which consisted of the mini-success of the CD, and after the EP I mentioned earlier, the group lost its original charge and the spark of creativity that was lit until '91 extinguished pitilessly. Needless to say that this album was released during the full "grunge" period, a phenomenon that certainly contributed to their rapid decline.

Every second, every song is a personal demonstration of class: every word uttered by Astley is an attack on society as a whole, every riff well-studied to fit with the other, every musician is (in my opinion) a professional. Ranging from moments of pure sophistication (the title track is an example) to explosive charges (but not too much, always controlled) such as "Question, False Ideals" and "The Bitter End", charges even interspersed by the beautiful "New Beginnings", a bitter acoustic composition, to then restart with three crown jewels like "Desperate Remedies", "Kept in the Dark" and "Black Embrace", songs where the normal Thrash matrix is re-examined: Tremolo, fantastic solos, "Black Embrace" recorded slightly worse (it must be said that the production is excellent) could even be a song by early Slayer from their first 2 albums. The only discordant note is "The Human Condition", which, (it must be said), is the bad copy of "Trial by Fire".

(As usual) it should be said that Xentrix were a band that deserved much more, but like all bands of this genre, they managed to make a name for themselves and carve out a place in the Olympus of the genre, (as small as it may be).

Some members of the band, after this adventure, left metal, others left music altogether.