Note the name of the album for it reveals quite a lot. Clearly the influence that Element are under are Metallica, fortunately it happens to be early Metallica, not the overblown, fan-hating pile of shite Metallica. The opening song Downfall wouldn’t appear out of place on say, Ride the Lightning and I have to say that the fret work on this tune is of a very high standard indeed. Actually Downfall is the best track but also the least original tune on view. 

All the members of Element are obviously more than competent musicians and at times their overall sound is highly pleasing and Under the Influence is probably exactly the album I’d like Metallica to make in 2008. That said clearly Element need to seriously try to develop their own style and bring something new to the thrash genre or else they‘ll never get out of Orrell which appears to be where they hail from. I note that the band list Lynyrd Skynyrd and  Alice and Chains amongst their influences so it’s not that they only dig Metallica so here’s hoping that next time out Mr Originality comes to the party because quite clearly Element are definitely proficient musically, so with some better songs their next effort may well be the one.

Contact: www.myspace.com/elementsound     

Simon Bray