Poison The Preacher – Vs The World
Release Date: 23rd May 2025
Label: Seek and Strike
Bandcamp
Genre: Thrash, Hardcore Punk, Crossover.
FFO: Municipal Waste, Suicidal Tendencies, Overkill, Doomsday, Inhuman Nature.
Review By: Mark Young
Recently, I’ve tried to shake up my reviews by avoiding any online content for the band I’m about to listen to, effectively to go in from an almost blind perspective. I avoid the content that the boss sends, other than the release date, and then go from there and hopefully avoid any pre-conceived ideas about them. So, if it feels a bit ‘floaty’ then I apologise from the off.
Poison The Preacher open up proceedings on their debut release with a brief instrumental, with Future Tense coming in and not really doing a lot, so when Sucker Punch comes in it is a literal eye-opener! Imagine early era Suicidal Tendencies (up to and including How Will I Laugh Tomorrow…) with Max Cavalera singing, and that is what you have here. It’s built in a way that evokes the best riffwork from ST with some quality stuff coming through but with that punk/hardcore feel burning through.
Dying Every Day is just fiendish, you have to listen to this loud and even with earphones on it sounds alive, and you can pick out every strike of the strings. It is similar to Sucker Punch in the way it has a breakdown in there, almost in the same spot, but the energy that is cannoning off it is undeniable. 1312 sees a changeover in method, and on this the ST vibe is massive, and I don’t think I’ve heard anyone else who can do that seamless blend between punk and metal like them.
The guitar sound on this is warm and as I’ve said earlier, feels alive. It’s the sort of thing you could have heard in the 80s, but just produced better. Hate Too Much maybe leans too much into that territory, close your eyes, and you can see Mike Muir bouncing around that stage, well up to the death growls that come in. Did I mention where they are from? Sorry – Bogotá, so they also infuse their music with Latin influences. On Congelado en el Tiempo there is a hint of that, with a Latin intro that is then squashed under the boot of more top-class thrash. Looking to the past to move forward is what they have done here, the almost teetering pace of Promise To Pay is replaced by a shift into high gear, supported by abuse of the whammy bar and is delivered in a hit first, hit hard manner and yes I know that Thrash does not have the same impact as it did, but in the right hands it can still sound incredibly aggressive, especially when delivered the way they do it.
That high intensity level does not drop off as we enter the final pair of One Man Army and Us Against The World. The former has an irrepressible stomp to it and is probably the most simply put together song on here. It’s designed purely for causing mass carnage, its pace slowing steadily until we reach the hyper speed pay off that is straight from the Slayer songbook. The latter, well it goes full circle in its build, reminding of Sucker Punch in how it unfolds and provides a satisfying close to what is a well put together debut.
I have to go back to the two guitarists on here, Juan Pablo (vocals, guitar) and Juan Camilo have combined on here to provide some of the best latter-day thrash riffs I’ve heard in a while. Each song has an ‘oh quality’ moment on it, and the band have the right approach in trying to keep run times short so that there is a greater impact on each track. If you look at their influences on here, they haven’t gone down the usual routes and for that, their debut sounds fresh. Of course, it’s just their debut release, but based on this, the future is incredibly bright for them.
(4 / 5)
