Through a succession of terrific shrieks and countless hollow-thudding stabbing sounds the ranting, murderous rifling of Wrocław, Poland-based thrash metal quartet ABUSER is realized in besmeared and dabbled sangre, a splattering of riff and hammer against all willing skulls per this ruthless debut full-length album. Plunging into the red-stained distress of mass violence, torture and cruelty ‘Blood Marks‘ is a proper révivance of the “brutal” thrash metal of the late 80’s wherein both tenets and goading death-thrash adjacent extremity necessarily blur the line between the two sub-genre. The outcome is surprisingly nuanced despite its nailbat-applied station, a feat milled over for years ’til readied to meet the eternally high standard for the riff-powered niche within.

Abuser formed as a trio back in 2018 by way of folks who’d cut their teeth in thrash groups Miecz, Raging Death and such earlier in the decade. Based on the style afforded within their sole demo tape (‘Demo‘, 2019) their allegiance was squarely inspired by the brutality of riff-obsessed late 80’s thrash metal amidst the growing reputation of death metal abounding. The usual suspects apply in this sense where ‘Terrible Certainty‘ and ‘Beneath the Remains‘ (among others) appeared to be the general ideal in mind. After that demo tape hit their original drummer jumped ship, assumedly in favor of other projects (re: Vengeance, Zatrata), other related projects ramped up (Pandemic Outbreak, for example) it’d taken some time to reforge. By 2025 two members of death/thrash metal group Leprozorium had joined on drums as well as a second guitar chair, solidifying the line-up for ‘Blood Marks‘.

Despite a nearly seven year absence Abuser return all the more fixated upon their original goal, better musicians delivering even more savage versions of several of pieces introduced by their demo (“Abuser”, “Painbringer”) alongside several new originals. In this sense the good work of the band’s formative years hasn’t been wasted and it’d be fair to suggest ‘Blood Marks‘ realizes the ambitions of the original group via what most thrash metal fans would label as “brutal” thrash metal. That isn’t to say that they’ve returned a Demolition Hammer clone so much as a more capable crew who’ve filtered more nuance and groove into what was generally just solid retro thrash fare to start. The title track, “Blood Marks”, and its anxious panicked stabbing through embodies this categorization but there are definitely faster, more violent hunter-killers on the barrel through.

Cracking into the full listen you’d probably think you stepped into some kind of alternate reality ‘Divine Intervention‘ follow-up as “Cry of the Innocent” fires up but Abuser characterize the first half of ‘Blood Marks‘ with faster, shorter and chunkier pieces beyond the martial fanfare of the opener. The real engine kicking mauler upon arrival is “Suspended in Torture“, the major propellant of the experience and the closest we get to the late 80’s death metal-era hard thrash experience and if you stick around ’til the final ~minute or so the rambling, bulldozing push of their riffcraft carries some of its loudest Kreator-shaped patternation (re: “Abuser”). As we step into the aforementioned title track (“Blood Marks”) the argument for these folks crossing the threshold into death/thrash style (ah via early Sadus) is made all the more compellingly. If you’re as much of a death-thrash obsessive as I am you’ll likely be sold on the album well before the title track even hits.

Odd as it might sound coming from me but the more ‘South of Heaven‘ these folks get on record the more compelling Abuser‘s frantic, faster-whipped pieces count. The soldiering thunder of mid-album stomp-through “Fin de Siécle” elevates the shorter, hotter cuts which surround it (“Painbringer”, “Monument of Atrocity“) and I don’t know if either piece would’ve stood out as such ripping blasts without such direct contrast set within the running order. Those pace-breaking groove heavy pieces aren’t always as tightly writ as the shorter riff-firing burners nearby but they showcase of the the rhythm section’s command best. The inverse exceptions do apply, though, where “Struggling for Reality” checks all of those boxes in under two and a half minutes and “Abuser” rifles at a blazing pace for its entire duration. Taking in the full listen you won’t find a total tunnel vision blur or a groove metal album either, but rather a band that’ve seemingly used the years between to refine these songs to commendable precision without losing heft or mania in the process.

Any fan of purely ‘old school’ thrash metal strictures in the context of death metal’s rising tide in the late 80’s should immediately appreciate what Abuser are all about and that stylized action is enough to render ‘Blood Marks‘ an entertaining smoker of a debut. I don’t know if these songs are bound to leave real dents in the memory of all but the most riff-obsessed listener but the niche is inarguably well served by their efforts. Though it isn’t the most original thought to grace the sub-genre I’d still found it difficult to pull myself away from the vortex of their work thanks to its maniac carve and shotgun-fed grooves. A moderately high recommendation.

---