With this review I would like to speak directly to all thrash fans out there (and maybe not only) and reach out with one hell of an advice – yes, listen to this album! Most of us, who love thrash metal, like to go back to the ‘old times’ and listen to older records that sound a little bit rough, but still keep the sentiment and beauty of pure and old-school thrash metal. By spending 41 minutes listening to the first album of MOFO called “Sick and Insane” you will definitely feel as if you are in a thrash metal time machine, travelling to exactly these old times, mentioned before, only that you will be remaining in the same place and same year.

There is something extremely unique with MOFO as they managed to create their own sound, combining thrash metal with death metal hints and colors. This combination sometimes can remind you musically of the earlier years of EXODUS and NUCLEAR ASSAULT, but even so – the sounds will not make you forget that you are listening to something completely different than the usual. We can for sure say that they are not following any other band out there, they are being completely and purely their own style. Their music will definitely mature with time but considering that this is their first official album after their first EP and it came with such hard and powerful sounds, we kind of know that MOFO will get very far away.

The way that the album starts is by slowly letting you inside of the MOFO world, as it begins with a gradually escalating intro by the name of “Cynic” which kind of prepares the ground for the heavy rhythms to come. “Adrenaline” is the next song in the list that comes and proves to the listener that the name is not just coincidental. Characterized by super-fast extreme riffs and fast solos the song is one of those that stays in your head after you listen to it. “Brothers of Death”, the third song in the album, is distinguished among the rest and characterized by very well-made differentiation between slower and faster parts. In both “Time for War” and “Sick and Insane” we can hear elements that are not that typical for the rest of the songs. We notice that in both songs the efforts towards the melodies are much higher than the speed and extremeness, even though they are also not put aside as through the whole album itself. “Sick and Insane” stands out completely with the bass-solo intro which dwells with the drums. I constantly find myself thinking about the good riffs the band wrote and this is a thought that you cannot ignore when you listen to “Let them Fall”. The same applies to “Final Experiment” and “Purgatory” with distinguished slower parts and magnificent drum skills showed by João Paulo “Mancha”.

As a conclusion, I would like to say that according to me there is no better way to finish the album but with “Hate and Disgrace”. Extremely fast and memorable with aggressive solos and drums, the song includes every single detail that characterizes MOFO as a band – speed, aggression and intensity.

“Sick and Insane”:

01. Cynic

02. Adrenaline

03. Brothers of Death

04. Time for War

05. Sick and Insane

06. Let Them Fall

07. Final Experiment

08. Frank

09. Purgatory

10. Hate and Disgrace