22. February 2025
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Media Review

Traitor – Exiled To The Surface

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Traitor - Exiled To The Surface

Traitor - Exiled To The Surface
3.9

Rating

 3.9/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Very straight old-school thrash
  • Great recordings with Tom Angelripper and a "Careless Whisper" cover

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Too monotonous (and predictable)

The German magazine Rock Hard wrote about Traitor, that the band “is playing the most persuading new-old-school-thrash, which I have heard since quite a long time”. Sounds like a perfect listen for a review, doesn’t it? The German band releases his new album Exiled To Surface on 8th July 2022.

 

Traitor – About The Artists

Traitor is a thrash metal band from Balingen in Southwest Germany. They have been founded in 2004. The initial band names were Patricide and Premature Burial, before the band renamed to Traitor in 2009. The two initial founding members, Andreas Mozer (drums, vocals) and Gerd Hery (guitar, backing vocals) are still members of the band. They are nowadays accompanied by Lorenz Kandolf (bass, since 2009) an Matthias Koch (guitar, since 2013). Traitor typically refers to the thrash sound of the 1980’s. In 2012, they released the album Thrash Command. Initially, the album has been a self-release, but later editions followed in 2013 and 2014. Their last album has been the 2018 Knee-Deep in the Dead.

 

Traitor – Exiled To The Surface – Track by Track

The eleven track album lasts 40 minutes.

1. Guilty As Charged

A slow starter into Exiled To The Surface: Traitor give us an almost one minute intro into their 2022 album. Sounds a bit like your speakers have some issues… But, hey, the guys kill that idea quickly.

2. Exiled To The Surface

The “real” opener of the album is the title track. After playing it slow in the intro, there is no time to relax in here: the riffs are fired at high speed, Andreas Mozer has to give its very best on the drums as well as on the vocal side. A lovely treat for thrash fans right at the beginning.

3. Total Thrash (feat. Tom Angelripper)

Traitor meets a legend: nobody but Sodom’s Tom Angelripper is joining forces with the Southern Germany in the third track. What could be a better name than Total Thrash? Even better: this is the title song to the thrash documentary Total Thrash. Thrash overkill at the very highest level – I love it!

4. 66 Exeter Street

After two full-speed and full-power tracks, Traitor takes a small break – 66 Exeter Street almost feels to make you sway like at a beer tent concert, compared to the two songs before. This little slow-down does not really change anything in the fun you feel while listening to these guys. Thumbs up!

5. Zordark

Hard to imagine to me how Andreas Mozer can hammer these kind of rhythms into the drum kit and scream out the vocals in parallel. Outstanding performance.

6. Careless Whisper

Yeah, there are better songs than this on this album. Nonetheless, this is my favorite. How the hell did these warhoses persuade Wham! (or their record company) that they can do this cover? I’m never gonna dance again… to this song without headbanging after I listened to the Traitor version.

7. Teutonic Storm (2021)

Traitor has already recorded Teutonic Storm in 2015 – now, there is a new version. The song has a touch of death metal and works with some nice rhythmic changes. Not a bad song, but I am still mentally stuck in that Guilty feet have got no rhythm thing…

8. Metroid

10,000 steps a day is healthy – it feels to me that Mozer is doing them during the 4:44 minutes of Metroid already. Powerful drumming, the guitars and the bass are adding the necessary melodic power. Traitor is delivering great metal power, indeed.

9. Into The Nightosphere

The first notes of Into The Nightosphere suggest that this song might deliver a slightly different sound. No chance in here, though. Traitor deliver Traitor – and they do that good. Nice guitar riffs and a lot of power. The fans love it, I am sure.

10. Space Seed

The single release is one of two songs, which are shorter than three minutes. Space Seed allows the guitars to be a bit more present than the drumming. Apart from that, we receive straight songs, the same vocal sound from the guy at the drum machine – and rocking sunshine in your metal heart while listening.

11. Decade Of Revival (Traitor Part IV)

The finale. The last five minutes of the album are named Decade Of Revival (Traitor Part IV). The band feels to make use of the five minutes to vamp a bit and show they musical and vocal talents. This does not do any harm to that song at all. Nice way to say good-bye to this release – the last minute is even a gentle fade-out.

 

Traitor – Exiled To The Surface – Spotify

Here is Exiled To The Surface on Spotify:

 

Traitor – Exiled To The Surface – My View

I already stated the key part of my review when I wrote about Into The Nightosphere: Traitor are doing Traitor. On the one hand, this is a good thing – because they are good and deliver straight and honest thrash metal recordings. On the other hand, you just cannot deny a certain monotony and predictability. This is the part of my thoughts which prevents a very high rating. But: I had fun with the album – and I am sure many of the listeners will do, too.

 

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