Methedras is a thrash/death band from Italy. The band formed in 1996, but has had several lineup changes. In 1999 an EP called "Cost Of Life" was released, but it would take the band 5 years before their first full-lenght was going to see the light of day. In 2004, the band recorded "Recursive"; which is the album we’re going to look at in this review.

Their bio says that Methedras started out playing coversongs of Slayer, Megadeth, Testament and Metallica, which is suffice to say that the guys have they're roots in the 80ies bay-area thrashscene. Traces from Death are also prominent; some of the melodies and rhytms would definitley get Chuck Schuldiner’s approval. All the tracks are well-played thrashsongs, and the band has a great vocalist with Claudio Facheris, who has a good voice and sort of resembles Chuck Billy but with a twist. The guitarwork is above average as well with a good mix of thrashriffs and soloing. I do have to say that the actual songwriting could be a bit more "effective", some songs tend to have one or two riffs too much which can sometime make the difference between a good or average track.

"Recursive" is a self-produced cd, which is something that should be admired these days since not many bands seem to have the willpower to go down that road. The downside of doing things on your own is that the quality might suffer a bit. The guitar sound definitley has some room for improvement since they sound way flat and thin for my liking...I’m really curious how this band will sound with a better producer. But enough bantering...check Methedras out if you want to support the European "thrash scene", personally I would file this under "a hint of things to come", this metal needs some polishing but the qualities are there!