Hammr “Unholy Destruction”
Band: Hammr
Title: Unholy Destruction
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Release Date: 23 February 2018
Country: USA
Cleveland, Ohio’s HAMMR is a one-man band, with J.Hammer playing all instruments and
performing the vocals. The band is active since 2015 under this name. Prior to that (2013- 2015) the band existed as Schizoid Hammer. HAMMR’s first self-titled EP has been released in 2015 and now the J.Hammer furiously pulls out of his blackened sleeve the hot debut album Unholy destruction. The classic black/speed/thrash/heavy from the early 80’s really reincarnated currently in the blackened speed/thrash, and more and more bands play around these structures. I was looking very much to this release since I first heard a piece of it. The influences here are clear – from early Bathory to Celtic Frost, to Discharge to Motorhead to Venom to Slayer to etc…In the best contemporary traditions of the genre, it is single-man band too.
With 11 tracks and 31 minutes in total running time, this album can power dozens of power plants and destroy double of them. There are so much energy and fire, galloping all the time. The mixture between (a lot of) blackened speed, thrash, punk, D-beats and blackened vocals
is excellent. The album really starts and finishes just in a blink of an eye, but from another hand this just the weak point to certain extend – all anthems – Satanic raid, Under black command, Desecrator, Sadistic poison, Death reign, Unholy destruction…just come and go to reach the Final sacrifice. At the end though everything somehow sounds similar all through the way from the beginning till closing down, merging into one big whole. Yes, it is neck-breaking, pit-fighting, blood-pumping out hot as hell debut album. I yearned to listen to it over and over
again, but sometimes I felt I’ve heard it all already at its half. 8.5/10 Count Vlad
