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Xentrix Kin Review by Gary Hill I only discovered this band a few months ago. I think it's a shame that I never heard of them before. They were obviously among the best of their genre at the time. If you dig old-school thrash metal, you are sure to love this. I'm just happy I eventually got turned into this band. This new remastered edition of their third album features several bonus tracks and a great booklet. This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) form in Music Street Journal: 2022 Volume 4. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2022.

Track by Track Review

The Order of Chaos The opening riff on this is packed full of mystery and drama. The cut drives out from there to s powerhouse metal stomper. The cut has a number of twists and turns. There is a mellower, almost symphonic metal drop back. Overall, this seems to land somewhere between thrash and stoner metal, though.

A Friend to You There is a lot of class and style as this builds out with a sound that's both intricate and purely metal. I'm reminded of both Megadeth and Metallica on this powerhouse. It is somewhat restrained, but also fierce.

All Bleed Red I dig the frantic pace and powerhouse metal grinding on this screamer. The hooks are surprisingly catchy and the riffs are so meaty. As strong as the two opening tracks were, this surpasses both of them.

No More Time It's a cliché for the third song of metal album to be a ballad. Here they held out for the fourth track. This starts with that balladic approach, leaning a bit proggy in some of the complexities. The metal guitar section that rises up after a time definitely calls to mind early Metallica to me. That instrumental movement is powerful and fairly extensive. They drop it back to the balladic after it works through, though.

Waiting Fierce thrash metal brings this into being, rather tentatively at first. The cut works out from there with some cool twists and turns. This thing has so much style and so many cool sections.

Come Tomorrow This is a dynamic and particularly effective thrash metal screamer. It's another that makes me think of Metallica to a large degree.

Release Intricate acoustic guitar bring this into being. The cut builds outward gradually from there before stomping forward with thrash intensity.

See Through You More plodding, but super-heavy and thrashy, this stomper is very cool.

Another Day This is another that's screaming hot. It has some scorching hot riffs and mean sounds. It's driving and so powerful.

Bonus tracks

Reward This screamer is furiously fast. The bass is prominent and so tasty. The whole tune really rocks.

Never Be (Demo) I love the bass sound on this thing, too. This does not sound like a demo. It's killer metal screamer. I'd put this up with anything on the album proper.

The Hand That Feeds Itself (Demo) Overall this isn't very demo-like. That said, part of the instrumental break feels a bit jam-like and sort of exploratory. Still, this is another fierce metal tune that would have fit on the album proper. It does earn a parental advisory.

Silence (Demo) Once again, other than the label, you are likely not to think of this as a demo. The cut comes in fierce and potent. It gets into more melodic and somewhat mellower zones at times. This is a slow moving and potent metal screamer overall, though.

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