Nocturnal Breed - No Retreat... No Surrender

NOCTURNAL BREED - No Retreat... No Surrender (HAMMERHEART - CD 1998)

This album is such a fan to listen to. I remember that Nocturnal Breed was getting a lot of negative comments back in the early 00's (because they have members of well-known Norwegian black metal bands – Gehenna and Dimmu Borgir - and because they steal riffs from other bands... bla bla bla bullshit!!!!). For me they were completely incomprehensible. I liked their music and I still do. And the fact that they were taking influences from the old 80's bands was something positive for me, not a reason to dislike their music. 

And 20 years after its release, "No Retreat... No Surrender" still is able to defend itself. I love their crazy riffs, a total "fuck off" attitude and insane, old school metalhead feel. It's one of those albums, which you would like to play on a headbanger beer-party. It's also perfect music to listen to when driving and to enjoy some old school thrash / black metal. Yeah, this is one of those albums, which are influenced by the old bands, but they do everything in slightly black metal way. Just like Aura Noir for instance. So, you can hear here Venom, Motorhead, Bathory, Celtic Frost, Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, Twisted Sister, Exumer and whatever else you will think of, but is old enough. Riffage as well as arrangements are all in the vein of these old bands, but very harsh, sloppy and truly aggressive from start to finish. Yet it’s also insanely catchy and memorable (you will scream those choruses, I bet!). And lots of these riffs are just very, very good. With the vicious way of singing (or screaming), the music has a distinctive black metal feel, very evil, satanic and hateful. I love how it sounds, in songs like "Thrash the Redeemer" for instance... Or in the title track, which is just insanely infectious and memorable.  

The real highlight for me personally is the last song though, a perfect black metal anthem called “Armageddon Nights”, in the vein of Bathory’s “Under the Sign...” and classic Norwegian black metal records. This song has such a killer dark, epic vibe that I just feel goose-skin when I listen to it. It's just fantastic stuff, killer riffs, the best vocals on the whole album... Nocturnal Breed music is easy, song structures are rather basic, so are their arrangements... but that’s the beauty about this old school, traditional thrash metal, which they play. As I wrote in the beginning – fun stuff to listen to. Band your skull!!! 

Standout tracks: "No Retreat... No Surrender", "Thrash the Redeemer", “Armageddon Nights” 

Verdict: 80/100