Florida death thrash dealers Intoxicated came down the promo sump with a nest of surprises I didn’t anticipate. Learning that once again I selected promo from a forgotten 90s band shocked me. Finding out that not one but two of Intoxicated’s members also serve in known party rock entity Andrew W.K. bamboozled me even more. These little factoids all came to me long after I had imbibed deeply of their upcoming third LP The Dome, which sounds fresher and far more vicarious than what I might’ve expected otherwise. But can it compete with a modern thrash scene desperate to revitalize the glory days of olde?
If there’s one thing that Intoxicated do well, it’s finding and exploiting their references. Riffs sourced from the bloodied piles amassed by the likes of Destruction, Death Angel, Dark Angel, and Sodom abound, all laced with the deathly wiles of Death to give them extra oomph. Anthrax-esque drumming doubles down on speed and extremity as The Dome gallops and blasts through its lean 30-minute runtime. A lightly proggy songwriting bent, again reminiscent of Death’s more sophisticated fare, gives The Dome a bit more variety than your average thrash revival record. Nonetheless, Intoxicated feels most at home brawling at bars and swaggering down back alleys in head-to-toe leather.
When they double down on sleaze and hooks, Intoxicated shine brightest. High-octane cuts like “Carved in Stone,” “The Dome,” “War Club,” and “Drowning the Weak” ooze vitriol and gush piss and vinegar all over the place, making for one nasty arena in which to open up pits and push around posers. Sole original member Erik Payne’s raspy barks and serrated growls feel right at home in this pocket, spewing matter-of-fact verses in the classic thrash tradition with a consistency and effectiveness that belies his age (“It’s Dead”). While that vocal talent provides The Dome with a significant measure of personality, it’s Erik’s and John Sutton’s riffs/leads and Mike Radford’s multifaceted drumming that steal the show, routinely shoving great ideas and weaving durable stitching throughout remarkably tight runtimes (“Shifted Cross” and “Rake the Grate,” for example, feel far more substantial and meaty than their featherweight sub-3-minute lengths suggest).
There’s a lot to love in The Dome, but there’s also a lot of potential to go further. On the production front, The Dome is very clean and modern, which in some ways detracts from Intoxicated’s brutish delivery (though its clarity makes the drum tones stand out in fantastic fashion). Additionally, while you can hear Gregg Robert’s bass burbling underneath the surface, it lacks the prominence it needs for listeners to reliably nail down what unholy magic he’s doing with it. As far as songwriting goes, The Dome is quite strong but songs that lack punch instantly get lost in the sauce. In some cases, that’s the result of a lack of unique riffs or interesting ideas (“Sever the Strings,” “Tighten Your Eyes”). In others, it’s nothing more than a pacing or tracklist placing issue where The Dome’s momentum is slightly disrupted or impeded (“Unescaped”). And of course, the fact that multiple writers could so readily identify reference points from a number of classic acts speaks to the level of influence they had on Intoxicated’s current sound, which, for some, might make The Dome seem unoriginal or derivative.
Even so, The Dome is a wholly enjoyable and easily repeatable record by an unsung act hailing from the 90s era of thrash and death. The references they pull from are good company to keep, so if some of the material here borders on worship, at least Intoxicated have good taste. As the dust and rubble settle, The Dome is a fun, raucous, and feisty little gem, and it would be a shame for it to go unnoticed.
Rating: Good
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Redefining Darkness Records
Websites: intoxicatedflorida.bandcamp.com | intoxicatedfl.com | facebook.com/pg/intoxicatedFL
Releases Worldwide: March 27th, 2026
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