Some two years ago Acrid managed to surprise me with their fourth demo. Therefore it doesn’t come as a surprise that their new demo Draw The Line is again very good material. Acrid play a combination of Swedish death thrash and more American oriented technical death thrash. One could say that the band brings absolutely nothing new, and one would be right. However that certainly wouldn’t do justice to this demo, since the songs are simply good.

Acrid simply shines when it comes down to pace changes and technical bridges. The song structures are good with plenty of variation within each song, yet without breaking the general flow of the track. The first real song “A Matter Of Light And Death” is technical and aggressive and characterizes the style of Acrid probably best. “Paraiste” continues down the same road, but has slightly more laid back interludes with heavy thrash like riffing.

This song definitely sounds heavier than any of the others. Acrid ends this too short demo with the title track “Draw The Line” which again propels the band in a slightly different direction. We even get to hear some clean vocals, while the main vocals sound a bit like Kreator’s Mille.

Well I hate to say but I can’t understand why Acrid does not have a contract with any label. These guys play some very good thrash death. Furthermore, the band seems to have developed enormously and have gone more towards an American sound. Even the production of this demo is decent; the drums sound a bit funky but this is a demo after all. One could only wonder how good this release would have sounded with a professional production.

These Dutch guys definitely get two thumbs up from me and if you want to know more about Acrid visit their homepage at http://www.acrid.nl.