Forget your conventional definition of what you think a "Tribute Album" is - forget heaping honor on a band of personal influence, that's small fare. Instead, take heed of HEMOPTYSIS, Arizona's most diabolic demonstrators of DeaThrash devastation, who have set to rampage a monolithic collection of lead laced altars of worship to the immortal six strings of death, a guitar lover's tribute to the instrument that single-handedly defines and carries the very world of Metal upon its fretful back. Spread copiously throughout 11 tightly structured, well-balanced Thrashing Death onslaughts are a bounty of lacerating razor riffs and melodic solo shreds galore, fixedly bent on aural annihilation through the endless array of axecutions courtesy of the inspired creativity of mastermind Masaki Murashita.

If you had the privilege of sampling HEMOPTYSIS' debut EP effort "Who Needs A Shepherd?", then you're not likely to be surprised by the eviscerating efficiency of "Misanthropic Slaughter", but you will certainly be impressed by how effectively Masaki and company have expanded upon the relentless Thrashing drive that defined their debut. Wherein "…Shepherd" at times reflected borrowed identities from influences like SLAYER and MEGADETH, "Misanthropic Slaughter" reflects a band fully shed of any stylistic overlaps; Masaki's gravelly rasp has been honed to a gritty, saw blade edge very much his own, and the music screams not of mimicry but intelligent adoration of the immortal rip and shred. Look no further than the re-creation of "Shadow Of Death", one of the strongest tunes from "…Shepherd" made infinitely stronger through the significant growth of the band as a whole. And it gets no better than "MOD", an all-out shredfest from start to finish, flashing sickle sharp riffs across a blasting Thrash landscape, with Masaki wickedly seething the twisted lamentations of the Merchant Of Death and obliterating the soundscape with exceptional solos of melded shred and melody.

Having expressed high hopes early on for the future of HEMOPTYSIS, it is now sufficient to say that the Arizona Thrash wielders have truly come into their own both stylistically and technically; gleaming potentials have been realized, and having reached this new pinnacle of performance, an entirely new valley of potential and possibility lays before them. And as long as they can weave steel and string it tight, Masaki and HEMOPTYSIS will ever remain thriving merchants in a prosperous trade of Death.