GAME OVER – Face The End (Album Review)

It is said that all good things come to an end, but those who speak such things would do well to mind the skull lurking in their closet like something out of Poltergeist. Such is the blend of 70s and 80s slasher/horror camp and mid-80s thrashing mayhem that typifies longtime purveyors of old school thrash metal revivalism, Game Over, a formula that has been paying heavy dividends since their 2008 founding.

In a sense, their entry into the early 2010s melee and subsequent studio albums functioned as a more conservative counterpoint to the meteoric rise of Power Trip’s gritty crossover approach to the sub-genre, almost like another old school adherent to Punishment 18 Records’ roster despite the band being a long-running adherent to rival Italian label Scarlet Records.

They’d face a comparable challenge in maintaining their 5 LP winning streak following the 2024 departure of bassist/vocalist and co-founder Renato Chiccoli, but now 5 members strong between a new bassist and lead singer, this neck-wrecking crew has struck pay dirt yet again with a beast of a comeback dubbed Face The End.

To those unfamiliar with this band’s sonic stock and trade, a high-octane blend of Bay Area influences reminiscent of where Metallica and Testament were circa 1987-1988, distilled down to a more compact songwriting reminiscent of the iconic Nuclear Assault debut that is their namesake, covers a fair deal of it.

However, this generally tried, true, and streamlined approach to awakening the mosh pit comes with a heavy degree of dueling harmonies and rapid-fire lead guitar high-jinks axe-slingers Alessandro “Sanso” Sansone and Luca “Ziro” Zironi that will surely draw comparisons to Xentrix’s iconic 1990 sophomore LP For Whose Advantage.

Pile on top a mighty battering ram of a rhythm section accomplished by drummer Anthony “Vender” Dantone and newly recruited bassist Leonardo Molinari and a razor-sharp production that cuts like …And Justice For All would have if the bass were audible, and what emerges is a dual course meal of 80s nostalgia and modern day aggression.

One would be remiss not to note the huskier bite and forceful baritone of new vocalist Danny Schiavina, perfectly emulating the Chuck Billy brand of soulful fury and bringing Game Over’s sound into a far more epic place.

True to form, this sixth chapter in Game Over’s LP saga begins with a synthesizer-driven nod to the 80s slasher film genre in “The Final Hour”, but then opts to up the ante to a might metallic overture with guitar melodies oozing out of every crevice. The subsequent ignition of madcap speed that is “Lust For Blood” trades in the band’s usual sledgehammer approach for a pile driver, pulling zero punches and allotting enough slots for Sanso and Ziro to tear up the fret board between Schiavina’s raging yet melodic verses to orbit Kill ‘Em All.

This guitar solo-happy approach proves to be a recurring theme that graces up tempo crushers like “Grip Of Time”, “Veil Of Insanity” and “Gateway To Infinity”, though there is a parallel and equally impactful element of earworm chorus hooks and a tight sense of rhythmic structure that turns these technical festivals of notes into highly accessible bangers. Brevity matched with kinetic riff works and virtuosic flair is such a pivotal factor that it wouldn’t have been hard to picture these songs being rock radio fodder back in the ’80s had there been a welcoming attitude towards thrash metal at the time.

While this album’s adherence to impact-based metallic splendor is without question, its well-rounded nature also affords a heavy amount of atmospheric contrast and toned-down melodic balladry to enter the equation.

Apart from the aforementioned introductory instrumental, the menacing interlude with a John Carpenter-like synthesizer bent “Tempesta” and the subsequent melancholic and slow-paced anthem “Crimson Waves” channels a dreary doom metal element that could be likened to a dark marriage of early Candlemass with Metallica’s “The Thing That Should Not Be”, albeit in a far less repetitive package.

The haunting mid-paced beast of an entry “Lost In Disgrace” takes a similar approach but leans into more of a late 80s Slayer aura while maintaining a crushing, Testament-inspired riffing approach. Otherwise frenzied thrasher “Weaving Fate” introduces a dreary element with a brief voiceover intro, and the iconic “Neck Breaking Dance”, in addition to functioning as Game Over’s answer to Exodus’ “Toxic Waltz”, sees Schiavina shifting to a casual yell amid the snarls and gang vocal interchanges that makes for a song that sounds like it’s in a live venue every time it plays.

Though it’s all but a foregone conclusion that no album that this outfit could muster post-2016 could ever surpass the lightning in a bottle studio feat that was Crimes Against Reality, Game Over has all the right elements at work here to give their classic 3rd album a run for its money in the coming years.

In all respects, Danny Schiavina has the needed level of personality and charisma to bring this fold to the head of the ever-growing thrash metal pack, and the rest of the band are playing for keeps while keeping the final product short and succinct enough to rival the Lich Kings and Havoks of the world.

Even though the impression that is left by Face The End and even the group’s own moniker is one of a conclusion being reached, it is surely not the final word in the Game Over story, and may well mark a band that is about to truly come into their own before the decade is out.

Release Date: April 25th, 2025
Record Label: Scarlet Records
Genre: Thrash Metal

Musicians:

• Alessandro “Sanso” Sansone / Guitars
• Luca “Ziro” Zironi / Guitars, Vocals
• Anthony “Vender” Dantone / Drums
• Leonardo Molinari / Bass
• Danny Schiavina / Vocals

Face The End Track-list:

1. The Final Hour
2. Lust For Blood
3. Neck Breaking Dance
4. Grip Of Time
5. Lost In Disgrace
6. Veil Of Insanity
7. Gateway To Infinity
8. Tempesta
9. Crimson Waves
10. Weaving Fate

Order Face The End here