ASHURA – Mindhood
- by Matt Coe
- Posted on 15-07-2014
Italian thrash band Ashura display a lot of traditional heavy metal traits on their debut album "Mindhood". Vocalist Facundo Gaston Gordillo has a lot of James Hetfield meets Sebastian Bach qualities to his delivery that brings more melody to the forefront – and bassist Luciano Tomas Gordillo has a flair for the Steve Harris upper neck finger maneuvers to give songs such as "Reap What You Sow" and "Vengeance of Blood" a lot of Maiden qualities to their otherwise thick riff template.
Artists such as Savage Messiah, Lost Society and a bit of the Bay Area old school come into play, but I think the guitar work is highly skilled and very intuitive (check out some of the softer build ups that start "In God We…Dust!"), and the gang-oriented choruses bring a lot of the material together in an all-for-one effort. The minor disappointment is at 34 minutes this is a shorter first record, but I think Ashura would rather focus on quality over mere quantity.
Those who like a lot of power runs and versatility in terms of the riff changes will find "Mindhood" ideal – as it’s not your average thrash band coming down the pike running the same chord combinations up and down the flagpole.
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