Motiivik – ‘Renouncement’

Metal

Roxx Records

Release Date – July 1st 2024

Review By Smudge

Motivik are a thrash/metal duo from Atlanta, Georgia. Courtney Simmons provides the voice and Ryan Roebuck gives us everything else apart from the drums which are provided by Alex Emidio. They formed in 2020 and since then they have produced a full album and four singles.

Opening with a melodic instrumental ‘Palace Of Ashes’ we get a rude awakening on ‘Dethroned’ which comes at you full and fast and has odd little fills here and there before the dark symphonic intro of the title track which turns into a rattling fist pumper with some melodic breakdowns and superb leads. ‘Break The Walls’ is some melodic metal then the acoustic comes out on ‘Septicemia’ Roebuck tickles the synth strings over the top then gives us a classic metal ride with Simmons providing a quality vocal line before ‘This Man I Am’ gets proper creepy with some clanging chains and mysterious noises before a jagged guitar line sets us up for classic thrasher with a powerful vocal which continues on ‘Harbinger Of Demise’. Its acoustic time again on ‘Final Hour’ and those synths in the background are chilling as Simmons shows another side of his voice on a dark power ballad.

‘Lord Of Death’ has a razor-sharp riff and a rap style vocal then ‘The Storm Within’ welcomes back the thrash thank you very much with machine gun riffery and a solid battery of drums before the Exodus fun thrash of ‘The Head Collector’ rages into ‘Dead By Daylight’ which chugs along and gets your head nodding. Final cut ‘Once Again’ starts with a sad piano line and Simmons sings in his ‘rock’ voice and of course it develops into a storming rocker.

It wasn’t until I actually read the whole press release that I was informed there were several guests providing vocals and guitar leads on this – I’ve never heard of any of them but whatever they contributed was well in keeping with the original plan for this album. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at just how good this record is. I’ve tried to find fault with it, but I can’t. It’s well written superbly executed and the production is world class. What more do you want? Well done Motivik keep up the good work.

Track List –

1 – Palace Of Ashes

2 – Dethroned

3 – Renouncement

4 – Break The Walls

5 – Septicemia

6 – This Man I Am

7 – Harbinger Of Demise

8 – Final Hour

9 – Lord Of Death

10 – The Storm Within

11 – The Head Collector

12 – Dead By Daylight

13 – Once Again