Hirax, a Crossover Thrash and Speed Metal outfit from California, have been around for quite some time, forming in 1984 and being heavily active in the mid 80's, but wasn't until the turn of the century that this group came back with full force and start pumping out more blistering Metal through a few full-lengths, as well as a number of EPs and Splits. Don't let this track list fool you, or the fact that this is a release with a different title then anything else here. Noise Chaos War is a compilation through Season of Mist Records that brings together the EPs Barrage of Noise, originally released back in 2001, Chaos and Brutality, and Assasins of War, both released in 2007. The track list for this release also winds up being in this order, and not by the release date, either (in that order on this disc, not by release date) on one disc, mostly due to the rarity of these three releases, as well as a new live track, which makes this album a great jump on point for people unfamiliar with the band.
While the latter tracks on Noise Chaos War make for some good hard hitting Thrash and Speed metal, the start of the album really shows the band's more crossover sound with some Punk intensity that just winds up making it sound horrible that causes many of the starting tracks to just sound horrible. While the songs themselves are far more intense then pretty much everything else on this release, the vocals are just screaming that winds up sounding strained or forced sometimes, such as the small vocal section that appears at the end of "Barrage of Noise". Sure, "Murder One" sounds great with it, but the shorter tracks that follow, such as "Barrage of Noise" and "Broken Neck" sound horrible with this approach, and the music on those tracks aren't anything all too special either, whereas the longer songs at least have great music that winds up working with the screaming when it's applied, as some of the other tracks that make up the Barrage of Noise EP incorporate a rhaspier vocals style that works in some haronized vocals to the mix, making the tracks sound so better and more pleasaing to listen to compared to the earlier tracks, such as "Walk With Death", and the highly impressive "Mouth Sewn Shut" which just hits you hard with such phenomenal Speed Metal intensity with a fine touch of Thrash in the guitars and vocals.
Once you hit "Chaos and Brutality", which kick starts Chaos and Brutality the next EP collected in this series that consists of only four songs. These four tracks really showcase a great improvement in the band's style, where the music becomes much more refined, allowing you gain a sense of maturity within the ranks of the band over those roughly six years since the first EP showcased on this album. It also shows the band leaving behind it's more crossover Punk sound and trying to regulate a much heavier Thrash influence into the mix while still retaining a Speed Metal intensity, and they manage to do it nicely on these four tracks, as well as the tracks off the closing EP, Assassins of War, which really should have been placed before the four that made up Chaos and Brutality. Either way, these songs really showcase some solid song writing that seems to bridge together musical ideas from bands like Exciter and Exodus, which clearly have a strong impact on the music of this band's more recent material.
The only problem with the songs that close out this release after "Lucifer's Inferno" and it's reprisal track that for some reason comes before the actual song, is that this later EP really seems to show more of a blueprint then anything due to the band's usage of slower paced guitars and a more mediocre sound. "Summon the Death Dealers" winds up being a strong song for what it is, but "City of the Dead" is just an obnoxiously slow song with vocals that simply don't work with it and sound horribly off. The closing song to the entire release, "Assassins of War", finds the band finally making a bit of a transitional bridge towards a Heavy Metal style of music reminiscent of Judas Priest being paired with a lighter Thrash sound, and in the end it just doesn't work, but clearly was the outcome through the entire song. Even the vocals on the song sound poor and lack any real energy until the scream prior to the guitar solo that also doesn't seem all that energetic.
Noise Chaos War winds up being a nice little piece of collected rarities, even for the fan who has everything since not all this material has been released on CD before this release. For that, this release does it's job well at showcasing the band's development and style changes over the years. The music on here is very strong, with exception to the first two tracks, as well as the last four, and will hit home for fans of the oldschool Thrash and Speed sounds. While this band isn't one of those groups that are new and trying to breathe life back into the classic style that really helped define Metal as it is today, there is no denying that the earlier pressings from this veteran group stood strong before the revival, and will stay strong on it's own if the style ever finds it's self fading from popularity again. If you haven't had the opportunity to check out Hirax, Noise Chaos War is perhaps your best chance to come to terms with this group, and understand it's brand of brutal classic metal.
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