Band: Virgin Snatch
Title: Act Of Grace
Label: Mystic Production
Distribution: Suburban
Release date: April 9th 2010
Review: CD

Act Of Grace is the fourth album by Polish thrash heads Virgin Snatch, a formation with former or current members of e.g. Anal Stench, Night Gallery or Dies Irae. It was done last year with the Wieslawski brothers (known for their fabulous studio duties for, especially, Polish bands, such as Dies Irae, Shadows Land, Crionics, Dissenter, Vesania or Deivos, yet also several Belgian formations, like The Reckoning, Suhrim and Emeth) at the famous Hertz Studio, but now the result is finally within good promotional hands.
The album, recorded with session assistance of Marcin ‘Novy’ Nowak (Vader, Dies Irae, Spinal Cord, Devilyn, Misteria etc), lasts for forty three minutes and like any former release, this one crushes and destroys.
Act Of Grace consists of nine powerful Thrash hymns, each of them as brutal and hammering. The somewhat groovy rhythm section and the hammering riffs, the melodic solos, the sick grunts, it has all been recorded with morbid pleasure. Besides the deep growls, the album contains clean vocals and a few screams too, and when it comes to tempo and song structure, every single composition has enough variation.
Final track It’s Time, by the way, is a ballad-alike piece with many acoustic guitars, but luckily it isn’t filled with clichés or fake arrangements. It features a guest guitar solo by Vogg of Decapitated- and Lux Occulta-fame
Minor detail is the lack of originality. The influences from bands as Nevermore, Iced Earth, Exodus or Testament are so predictable, and that’s sad because Virgin Snatch not always reach the same high level of these bands. Yet again this album did develop positively in comparison to the former releases (S.U.C.K. [Mils Music, 2003, back then with Tomasz Titus Pukacki of Acid Drinkers- and Titus Tommy Gunn-fame; the latter recently released its debut La Perenatica Svavolya through Mystic – review posted on May 13th 2010]; Act Of Lying [their 2005-Mystic-debut, and also the first with Slawek and Wojtek Wieslawski behind the recording desk]; and In The Name Of Blood [2006]), showing that shy own face more than before.
Act Of Grace will please every fan of modest, melodic all times Thrash Metal.

75/100

Ivan Tibos.