Electrocutioner: Harbinger – Album Review
Tyler, Mark, Rich - Electrocutioner
There’s a moment, about thirty seconds into Harbinger, where you realise this isn’t a nostalgia act. Sure, Electrocutioner carry the New Wave of Old School Thrash Metal banner, nodding to Whiplash, Megadeth, and Slayer, but this Queens/Long Island trio doing thrash faster, meaner, and with a sharp sense of hooks.
Their debut full-length False Idols already proved they could hang with modern thrash heavyweights, but Harbinger feels like a level-up. The production is meatier, the songwriting tighter, and the execution leaves no prisoners. Angry Metal Guy said of their debut, “This is how thrash should sound,” and Electrocutioner clearly took that as a mission statement, not just a compliment.
Electrocutioner: Harbinger
The Sound of the Apocalypse
Thrash has always thrived on themes of destruction, but Harbinger leans harder into Armageddon, cults, and religious punishment than before. These aren’t just metal clichés, Electrocutioner deliver them with conviction. Mark Pursino’s snarled vocals sit between early Dave Mustaine sneer and Bobby Blitz’s high-pitched venom, the perfect vehicle for lines about cult suicides, false prophets, and burning skies.
Musically, the trio understand that thrash lives in the riff. Songs like “Seven Lamps of Fire” and “Heaven’s Gate” rip forward with frenetic speed, Tyler Bogliole’s drumming a constant barrage of double-time kicks and lightning snare hits, while Rich Nieves’ bass gnaws through the mix with Lemmy-grade grit. This is thrash stripped of gloss, no breakdown gimmicks, no groove metal fluff, just riffs and rage.
Track Highlights
“Seven Lamps of Fire” is the track that will hook most listeners first. It’s pure whiplash-inducing thrash, with Pursino’s riffs alternating between sharp down-picked punishment and Slayer-esque tremolo runs. The chorus is surprisingly memorable, showing that Electrocutioner understand the art of writing songs that stick, not just songs that shred.
“Heaven’s Gate” dives into cult mentality with a vicious gallop that recalls Megadeth’s Peace Sells era. The riffs here are dense, almost claustrophobic, before breaking open into a half-time stomp designed for pits. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to throw elbows in a crowd of strangers…so….it’s thrash done right.
Elsewhere, “Plague Sermon” brings in a darker, almost proto-death metal edge. The riffs are thicker, the drumming more relentless, and the lyrics drip with apocalyptic venom. “Cult of the Harbinger,” meanwhile, may be the band’s finest cut, a mid-tempo bruiser that feels like a lost classic, complete with a solo section that burns and bends like Kerry King’s most unhinged moments.
By the time the closing track fades, you feel charged, like you’ve been through a 40-minute riot that leaves you begging for another round.
Performance and Production
The chemistry between these three is lethal. Pursino is the obvious focal point, his guitar tone slices with that classic Marshall crunch, and his vocals are venomous without losing clarity. But it’s the rhythm section that turns Electrocutioner into something dangerous.
Nieves’ bass doesn’t just sit under the riffs; it snarls and grinds, recalling the way Frank Bello or Tom Araya used to make basslines matter in thrash. Bogliole’s drumming, meanwhile, is tight without sounding mechanical. He lives in the pocket when he needs to but can push into blast-adjacent chaos when the music demands it.
Production-wise, Harbinger lands in the sweet spot between old-school grit and modern punch. The guitars are front and centre, the drums cut through without sounding overly triggered, and there’s enough space in the mix for the bass to have teeth. CDN Records clearly understood that thrash should sound dangerous, not sterile.
The HMC Verdict
Harbinger is everything you want from a modern thrash album: speed, aggression, riffs that lodge themselves in your skull, and a sense of danger that too many bands forget. Electrocutioner are taking the old gods’ fire and hurling it into a strange new world with conviction.
From the first cut to the last scream, Harbinger is a record that proves the New Wave of Old School Thrash Metal isn’t just alive, it’s thriving in the basements and clubs of New York. And if Electrocutioner have anything to say about it, thrash’s future is going to be just as hostile as its past.
