Thrash metal, now on the upswing after some fallow years, never went away for some. Swedish thrash purists Raise Hell are one such band. Their fourth album, CITY OF THE DAMNED, the first with singer Jimmy Fj„llendahl, finds them building on the bedrock of Bay Area thrash with a renewed sense of melody reminiscent of early European headbangers like Accept and Scorpions. The title track is a strutting rhythm with bluesy guitar lines winding through the chorus, and the thundering `To The Gallows" is a study in dramatic, crunching metal dread. Fj„llendahl fits right in with the band's slightly modulated attack.
