Even though Flotsam and Jetsam is a classic thrash metal band, they are actually experiencing their heyday right now. Since their current line-up materialized about a decade ago, they have released highlight after highlight, and ‘Rats in the Temple’ is no different. Admittedly, the first two singles off the album gave me the impression they may finally have stretched their current formula of melodic thrash metal meets meaty modern heavy metal to its limits. However, the album as a whole is another highly dynamic, powerful work of pulsating riffs, massive guitar melodies, awesome drum work and excellent lead vocals.

Full disclosure: my opinion on Flotsam and Jetsam may differ somewhat from that of the staunch thrash old schooler. Their early work is great, their mid-period stuff is generally much better than it gets credit for, and I genuinely think they are releasing their best work these days. There is one important reason for that: their current material is very clearly written around Eric A.K.’s incredible vocals. His powerful, expressive voice is easily the band’s biggest strength, and where it feels like he had to adapt to the riffs on the early albums, it’s obviously the other way around nowadays.

One noticeable development that Flotsam and Jetsam made over their last few albums is that their choruses have improved. While ‘The End of Chaos’ was a massive step in the right direction, the repetitiveness and predictability in many of its choruses was a minor issue. ‘Rats in the Temple’ does have a few choruses with repeating phrases, but when it’s not every other song, that suddenly becomes less of a problem. More subtle is the greater degree of variation in the guitar parts. Everything is instantly recognizable as Michael Gilbert and Steve Conley, but their parts cover more stylistic ground.

Stand-out tracks include the eighties hard rock filtered through thrash metal of ‘A Taste for War’, the particularly vicious ‘First on the Spike’, the almost Iron Maiden-esque ‘Her Blood Your Pain’, and the effective pounder ‘Last Rites’. One thing Flotsam and Jetsam has perfected in recent years is theatrical, yet still very riff-driven songs that give Eric A.K. all the space to excel. This time, ‘The Ghost Behind My Door’, the title track and the excitingly dark ‘Blame the Knife’ offer just that. If it’s speedy thrashers you’re after, the likes of ‘Harvesting the Hate’ and ‘The Edge of Nowhere’ have got you covered.

Where many classic thrash metal bands that still release albums these days are desperately clinging to the style that made them popular in the eighties, Flotsam and Jetsam really just seems to be interested in making the best music they possibly can and playing to their strengths. This has resulted in multiple albums that sound fresh, inspired, and not too concerned about what specific label their style of metal should have. ‘Blood in the Water‘ is probably still my favorite Flotsam and Jetsam album, and not just of the twenty-first century, but ‘Rats in the Temple’ comes very, very close.

Recommended tracks: ‘Blame the Knife’, ‘The Ghost Behind My Door’, ‘A Taste for War’