Stone Cold Black - The Cell

Published September 26 2008

*=Staff's pick	The Cell Betrayer Roadhouse Blinded* Day Without Shadows D-fense* Adrenaline Reunity One Foot In The Grave* Down*

Genre	Thrash Metal	Korea Black	Vocals
Tracks	10	Wolfgang Schmidt	Guitar
Runningtime	48 Min.	Andreas Mier	Guitar
Label	Self Released	Ulf Langpaap	Bass
Release	19 July 2008	Andreas Rotter	Drums
Country	Germany	-	Keyboard
Similar artists	Xentrix, Regicide, Death In Action

Hamburg, Germany's Stone Cold Black is another hungry, but inebriated, contender among the legion of unsigned modern thrash bands burgeoning. This summer they opened some shows for Destructor, when the Cleveland act sojourned to Europe to play several festival dates, including Wacken.

SCB fall into that newer German thrash vibe which acts like Abandoned, Sencirow, Viron, and their ilk have propagated. The modern production, and less emphasis on melody is one qualifying aspect of these newer attendants. Though updating their approach, SCB remain tried and true at heart, and their sonic defense should not be confused with the 'New Thrash' pretenders to the throne, like The Haunted.

Stone Cold Black acknowledge their rich heritage of being from the home of so many great thrash acts, including the older, more obscure bands like Death In Action, Capricorn, or Grinder, to the more reknown, underground acts like Protector, Sodom, Living Death, Holy Moses, etc.

This is where SCB will appeal to new and old school fans alike. They have plenty of punishing rhythms, and at times remind me of Xentrix. The songs "Blinded" and "D-fense" are an excellent example of this. However some cuts like "Reunity" (is that even a word?) are too plodding and dull, and demand more aggression.

Their broken English on songs like "Adrenaline" also revivifies that mid-80's sting, taking the matured listener back in time to when he spun vinyl, or played cassettes looking for "harmless victims (wictims) to send to their grave". This, of course, being a reference, to Deathrow's - "Thing Within" taken from the astonishing "Raging Steel", finally released on CD for the first time!

I'm also reminded of the extremely rare, but worthwhile investment by Regicide, whose - 1995 self-released -Welcome In The Family CD is a masterpiece. When I hear the guitars and Rotter's drum kit, this sound echoes in my head. Korea's vocals can be a bit rough and gruff, whereas, Paul Dahlmann's great gedängel vocals had more pitch, and kitsch.

Stone Cold Black still have one fault, in the grave concern of writing down some better songs, with more power and suggestion. They will need to work more diligently, before aspiring to be signed to a quality label. They recently signed with Germany's Twilight Records for the distribution of The Cell. Hopefully, they can improve the production quality, and create a better booklet, as my version has some grammatical and typo errors.

Now is the right time, given the Thrash inundation, and recoil of so many great reformations. I urge SCB to put the pedal to the mettle. I believe with determination, alacrity, and a hunger for power, Stone Cold Black will rise above, and then sell well.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	6,5	6	6,5	7

Summary
6,5 chalices of 10 - Michael the MettleAngel