Belgian thrashers Sanity’s Rage released a great debut album in the shape of ‘You Are What You Swallow’ in 2012, and then things went quiet for a while. While they remained active on the live front, it wasn’t until their self-titled single was released ten years later that the band showed new material was still in the works. That single was very promising, and ‘The Dead Don’t Run‘ delivers on that promise. It’s an excellent work of melodic thrash metal, that happens to bring back most of the band’s original line-up. And that line-up appears to have fantastic chemistry.

When modern thrash metal bands incorporate more melodic ideas into their music, they often end up sounding so watered-down that they barely even qualify as thrash metal anymore. Sanity’s Rage nimbly avoids that pitfall. There are clear melodic death metal elements on ‘The Dead Don’t Run’ that vaguely resemble Kreator’s recent work, though they don’t come at the expense of the thrashing intensity, and Kenny Molly’s venomous vocal performance contributes to that significantly. The thrashiest moments are occasionally reminiscent of Tankard’s later work, while the traditional thrash riffs have a subtle creativity to them that brings the likes of Xentrix to mind.

One reason why Sanity’s Rage doesn’t lose its sting during the more melodic moments of ‘The Dead Don’t Run’ is simply because they are great songwriters. Instead of having an intense thrash song lose its momentum when it opens up for its chorus, Sanity’s Rage clearly knows how to build up tension. Take the song ‘Sanity’s Rage’, for instance. While its chorus is definitely its most melodic moment, it isn’t aimed at a festival sing-along, going for emotional intensity instead. As a whole, the song is extremely dynamic, and all of its separate parts appear to exist to enhance each other.

The back half of the album is slightly more aggressive than the former, though not so much that it feels like listening to a completely different band. ‘The Final Exhibit of Pain’ shows some more modern metal leanings, but plenty of melodic moments as well, while the title track is the most rhythmically unpredictable song and a highlight on the album. ‘Reeducate the Masses’ has the album’s most awesome riff about a minute and a half in, and atmospheric closer ‘Sanity Lies in Ruin’ is the album’s biggest surprise. Other highlighs include the powerful opener ‘Measure of Guilt’ and the absolutely annihilating ‘Nothing Sacred Will Hold’.

Combine all of that with a production that sounds crisp and modern, but still very organic and dynamic, and you have a winner of an album on your hands. Sanity’s Rage genuinely does the creative and melodic thrash metal thing better than most of the bigger names of the genre, and for that alone, they deserve much more recognition than they currently get. Hopefully it won’t take them another thirteen years to come up with their next album. If you think the retro bands are the only worthwhile newer thrash metal bands, let Sanity’s Rage prove you wrong.

Recommended tracks: ‘Nothing Sacred Will Hold’, ‘The Dead Don’t Run’, ‘Measure of Guilt’