Stressfest - Promo 2003

*=Staff's pick	Isolation Wall Flesh Deadneck Lights Out*

Genre	Thrash Metal	Nicklas Engwall	Vocals
Tracks	4	Chris Vowden	Guitar
Runningtime	19 Min.	Peter Hegardt	Guitar
Label	-	Oliver Vowden	Bass
Release	2003	Calle Fransson	Drums
Country	Sweden	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Slayer, Testament

Swedish band Stressfest has been around since 2000 and consist of members that has been playing with various bands in the past, Expulsion is one of them.
There is no doubt where these guys have been collecting their influences from, their promo is filled with heavy thrash metal, and Slayer must be seen as a big source of inspiration.

First track is the least thrashy on the album and has a heavy groove, but what strikes me on that one is the poor vocals, at times it sound terrible.
But it gets better as we reach the second track where vocalist Nicklas Engwall puts a bit of aggression behind his singing. And now the music is more thrash as well as faster and the traces of Slayer becomes more obvious in the instrumental parts of the music.

In the third track Deadneck I gets kind of a Ministry feeling from the early nineties, mostly because the distorted vocals and a more monotone style of the music.
Finally we reach the last and also the best track, Lights Out. This is were all the parts comes into place and it is also the track most similar to Slayer and the vocals is at its best with an Tom Araya kind of singing and hints of Testament with the guitars.

The two things that I like the most on this demo is the leadguitars by Chris Vowden, you can find some really great playing here, but mostly I like the drumming from Calle Fransson, and these are the two guys that earlier played in the band Expulsion.

Stressfest might not be the best band I've ever heard, but their are definitely not the worst either. They have more quality than many bands that are giving record-deals these days, so if there is some justice in the world Stressfest ought to be signed. I can smell that there is a lot of potential in the band and with a decent production this might actually be something.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
5	4	6

Summary
5 chalices of 10 - Thomas