And the winner is…….The Fallen. This must have been the verdict of the jury during the Metal Search 2000, sponsored by Metal Blade. And here it is, their second album, entitled “Front Toward Enemy”, and the successor of their debut “The Tones In Which We Speak”. The Fallen had been struggling for almost a decade before they received a record deal by Metal Blade, and I can imagine why; The Fallen play an old-fashioned kind of power thrash, and that wasn’t the most commercial type of music during the last couple of years. The album starts with “Short Fuse”, a very short instrumental intro, followed by the title track “Front Toward Enemy”, which shows you immediately what to expect: super tight power thrash with a bit hardcore-like vocals.

Songs like “In Loathing” and “Shifting Our Vision” are very well-played power thrash songs; and that isn’t too strange considering three of the four members have graduated at the Berkley College of Music in Boston, U.S. In spite of the superfluous track “The Hopeless & The Frail” and the annoying hidden track at the end of the album you should check them out if you’re into old-fashioned power thrash.