There’s a nice crossover feel to the opening track of Diabology‘s debut album, Nobody Believes Me, that really draws the ears in with the promise of good thrashing times ahead. Are these empty words, idle temptation perhaps, or is there really something of interest to teen thrashers Diabology?

These Burbank-based bruisers might only be three in number, but they do pack a punch in the sonics department far in advance of of the expectations garnered by such a paucity of personnel.

Indeed for a group of young chaps with a collective age only just greater than that of your reviewer, there’s a tremendous amount of maturity on show withing the grooves of NBM… third track Defiling Innocents, for instance, weighs in at under three minutes in length yet packs in a plethora of nice ideas backed up by some neat playing – the guitar solos are great – and the band as a whole seem to have zeroed in early on the right niche for them as a unit – vicious yet accomplished thrash with hardcore overtones  delivered with clarity but enough dirt under the fingernails to denote that they are indeed the real deal. Or at least a real deal very much in the making.

Seed of the Prophet is a case in point; hoarse, aggressive vocals that pitch themselves somewhere between the West Coast of the US and the Western side of Germany, backed by clatteringly noisy but assuredly focused instrumentation that leaves nothing to the imagination. These lads have clearly used their salad days – when I was hanging around snooker halls and betting shops – very wisely indeed.

Not all the ideas are good ones, of course, but that’s to be as expected. And when you can come up with old school crossover like Judgement Day then you can afford a few creative misfires along the way. So, whilst Diabology are definitely a name to tuck away for the future, you’d be mad not to acquaint yourself with what they’re up to now if raw, raging thrash gets your juices flowing.

Nobody Believes Me is out now.