When the mass, largely unorganized revolt against the forced enslavement of human civilization by bunker-set oligarchic warlords is enacted and we all band together to be slaughtered by AI-dreamed sentient plasma-controlled Phantom MK-X humanoid combatants no doubt a lot of what Antwerp, Belgium-based crossover thrash quintet TOXIC SHOCK have to say on this third full-length album will ring true for those with the wherewithal to remember. Almost a full decade beyond the band’s last record ‘Future is Calling‘ is neither a leap in concept nor a departure from their previous standard, in fact they’ve seemingly cut back on most all manner of excess in favor of shorter, sharper shocks. Though you won’t find the awkward step and swimming mind of disaffected 80’s metalpunk here in exacting purity there are a solid handful of songs here well worth worming into mind on the pass through.

When Toxic Shock formed back in 2010 they’d been unmistakably inspired by the late 80’s wherein hardcore punk became increasingly loud in its preach, everyone copied Slayer riffs to an absurd degree, and crossover was splitting its message between drug-addled goofin’ and political unrest. Granted the resurgence of that sort of shit’d been ongoing for the full decade prior but their first demo (‘Toxic Shock‘, 2011) and EP (‘Toxic Shock, 2012) each reflected the Venice/NY diaspora and that phenomenon moreso than the third-gen corpo recreation of it. Those ideas were fully realized on the band’s fairly straightforward debut LP (‘Daily Demons‘, 2013) soon after. While it is interesting enough to see where the band started and what parts of their original ideal have survived the last ~15 years I’d found the band far more interesting a few years later per their second album.

The main reason I’m interested today, ‘TwentyLastCentury‘, defined a highest standard for Toxic Shock‘s gig when I’d given brief review in late 2017, a last minute inclusion to my Best of the Year list warranted by the quality of their work. The album was notably produced/engineered and mixed by Flemming Rasmussen and sounded great and all, but the major appeal was in the authenticity of their serious faced crossover/thrash style. Though one could argue the vocals weren’t hitting the mark and that they’d carried over too much of the swinging step of their demo days these folks had few reasonable contemporaries beyond the obvious of the time, the peak of Power Trip mania before too many bland copycats had fully cropped up. No doubt ‘Future is Calling‘ isn’t as ambitious as its predecessor in terms of arrangement and that’ll be obviate enough if you’d checked out the band’s early 2024 EP ‘Reborn‘ where they’d previewed several songs (“Reborn”, “Quick to Forget”, “Procrastination-Frustration”) that’d made it onto the new record, all of them shorter in scope and quick to their point.

“Reborn” cuts a bit faster than before and energizes in the same way but I don’t think I’d taken a second glance at ‘Future is Calling‘ ’til the melodic/Bay Area inspired choruses of “1239” hit. What might’ve been a four minute thrash song on Toxic Shock‘s previous album is now just over half, hits its mark a few times and ducks out before overstating itself and per my experience prompting a repeat or two for a closer listen. From that point they’ve done a great job of giving the ear similar reasons to pay attention depending on your interest in crossover and more broadly simplified structures of classic thrash such as the gang-shouted chorus of “Short term greed, long term pain” from “Lifelong Sentence”. For a ~half hour album experience they’ve smartly kept their songs short, potent enough as we hit this major pocket of interest culminating with the sort of early 90’s hardcore inspired ride of “Quick to Forget”.

The second half of ‘Future is Calling‘ still manages to go for the throat in most respects but can’t seem to land a similarly profound bump along the road beyond maybe the faster hardcore punk clip of “Through the Poison”. Otherwise the speed metal jog and jive through “Procrastination-Frustration” almost reminded me of older Zig-Zags in how it bounced along but manages a pretty characteristic crossover thrash gait for Toxic Shock otherwise; The main two mishaps I’d point out here that put me off here included the strange pitching of Greta Thunberg‘s infamous speech on “Earth”, it is a confusing tonal moment per the effect applied, and I’d found their cover of The Gun Club‘s “Sex Beat” at the end just alright. It doesn’t quite hit that early Buzzcocks style jangling charm of the original but it is an notable choice either way.

The main reason I’d grabbed this album for a closer look and listen was admittedly because I’d been a fan of the previous one ~9 years ago and figured ‘Future is Calling‘ would be on par. In most ways it -is- on par and Toxic Shock have effectively managed a memorable enough result here but by cutting back on the highly stylized sound design and more elaborate songcraft of that prior record most of what I’d liked shrank away immediately. There are some real smokers here, or, songs which’d have stuck in mind even in passing but overall it feels like this record doesn’t have its linchpin, a keystone song that “makes” it happen and the sub-half hour runtime (excluding the cover) alongside a patchy spot or two mean it only just lands above-average with me. A moderately high recommendation.

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