Taipei Metal

Review: Metal Safari - Return To My Blood, 2006

Put this disc in and let the beautifully-played flamenco-infused intro, “The Beginning,” wash over you. Then, you may want to consider getting all the valuables out of the room, because by the time this CD stops spinning your room could very well be completely thrashed. In the pummeling intro of the CD’s title track, the triggered bass drum sounds of drummer Yazu, who is an absolute rock throughout this CD, rattle the skull while the eardrums are simultaneously pierced by the strong, punishing vocals of screamer Inamoto, who is equal parts Randy Blythe and Phil Anselmo.

Metal Safari are thrashy in a new school kind of way; metalcore with more hardcore sensibilities and breakdowns, inspiring equal amounts of fist pumping during the choruses and floor punching during the verses. The songs are cathartic anthems, pure and simple, with nary a weak moment. You can really hear the Dimebag influence in Hiro’s guitar playing, with his wah-riding solos and liberal use of pinch harmonics. There is a definite Pantera, southern groove to the music. Songs like “Hell’s Blast” are circle pit inspiring. It’s Hatebreed meets Lamb of God meets Pantera, with a scream-along chorus, ultra-catchy guitar hooks that get under your skin and stuck in your cortex. It has something for the hardcore kids, something for the purists, and something for the card carrying members of both the new and the old school.

On “Brand New God Pt. 1” the intro inspires visions of the house lights bathing the stage and the crowd in blinding white light before this hardcore beat-down of a song sets a raging sea of arms and legs swinging, while bodies crawl and clamor over and under one another in pure metal ecstasy. Then it’s time for a bit of a break with “Brand New God Pt. 2,” which is largely an instrumental with some mournful melodic cries from Inamoto that give way to distorted chords and ripping high range screams. This, along with the intro track, really shows Metal Safari’s diversity and gives the listener a good sense of their range and the boundaries they have set in their music thus far in terms of how far they will go in regard to heaviness.

Metal Safari never breaks out into full-on blast beat territory, staying within the parameters of thrash, metalcore and hardcore territory. As such, this is a band with definite mainstream appeal. It’s heavy enough for the extreme crowd but accessible enough for those with one foot in Hot Topic and the other planted precariously in the shadow of the valley of death metal. There’s something infectious about this band that makes you crave a black tooth grin and a raging pit in which to do some slam dancing. It’s utterly enjoyable, and only the most jaded, heavier-than-thou types won’t be into it.