This is the sixth record for these Athenian thrashers, who are definitely the most convincing frontrunners of the rebirth of the genre in Greece, but even in a global scale there are very few bands that are on the same level. It’s obvious that main composer Nick Melissourgos has a clear vision: He is, like many of the ‘founding fathers’ of the genre, on the never-ending quest for the perfect riff, and on ‘Division of Blood’ there are quite a few that could stand a chance in winning the contest. As a whole the record is just as compact as ‘Divide and Conquer’. The only reason for a thrash fan to have any doubts is to judge it solely in terms of originality. It would be a shame though, if that meant losing little gems such as ‘Front Gate’ or ‘Of Thy Shall Bring the Light’.
Once Kerry King had proudly called Slayer as the ‘ACDC of thrash’, referring to the persistence and lack of deviations from a specific path that some call ‘stability’ and others ‘monotony’. Slayer are the biggest influence on the record anyway, but I also believe their mindset is similar.
