Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
United Kingdom’s old-school thrash metal band XENTRIX reveals the imminent arrival of their new studio album, ‘Bury The Pain‘, via Listenable Records – on June 7th in Europe and June 21st in North America.
While it is true that the term “old-school” is a rather well brandished, go-to descriptive used by many (including myself), XENTRIX is the very type of band it is meant for. Formed in 1984, under the name Sweet Vengeance the band was a leading trailblazer within the earliest days of the U.K.’s thrash metal movement. After changing their name to XENTRIX in 1988, they quickly garnered the attention of the English branch of Roadrunner Records, who signed the band less than a year later.
Fantastically intense albums like 1989’s ‘Shattered Existence‘ and 1990’s ‘For Whose Advantage?,‘ along with tours supporting acts like Testament, Sabbat, and Sepultura, made XENTRIX a popular band in the metal underground. Despite their drawing large audiences to their live shows and selling respectable numbers of albums, XENTRIX never gained global recognition, though deserving of it. Controversy over their cover of the Ray Parker, Jr. hit “Ghostbusters” theme song in 1990, along with personnel shifts and calculated moves toward a more progressive musical style on later albums ‘Kin‘ (1992) and ‘Scourge‘ (1996), preceded their going inactive in 1997.
A brief reformation of their classic lineup in 2006 was short-lived, with XENTRIX announcing before year’s end that they were splitting up again with no intention of reforming in the future. They reneged on that in 2013, when the ‘Shattered Existence‘ era lineup reactivated (though bassist Paul MacKenzie was later replaced by Chris Shires) and played on a small U.K. tour with Kreator and Evile, along with a set at that year’s BloodStock Open Air Festival.
Further changes in the XENTRIX roster would occur though eventually, things settled into place with Jay Walsh (vocals and guitar), Kristian Havard (guitar), Chris Shires (bass), and Dennis Gasser (drums) in recent years. This is the membership present on the recently announced new album, ‘Bury The Pain‘, accompanied by today’s unveiling of the album artwork created by Dan Goldsworthy.
Along with album details, a new single, “Bleeding Out“, is included below. Check it all out, as ‘Bury The Pain‘ is set to surface June 7th (Europe) and June 21st (North America) from Listenable Records. Pre-order HERE.
Tracklist:
01. Bury The Pain
02. There Will Be Consequences
03. Bleeding Out
04. The Truth Lies Buried
05. Let The World Burn
06. The Red Mist Descends
07. World Of Mouth
08. Deathless And Divine
09. The One You Fear
10. Evil By Design
‘Bury The Pain‘ is available for pre-order at Listenable Records.
Available in the following formats:
* Ltd. orange vinyl – 200 copies (Listenable Store Exclusive)
* Ltd. transparent red vinyl – 600 copies
* Ltd. o’card CD
* Tape
* T-shirt
