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If a band like Lost Society gets a lot of attention, this Danish band certainly deserves that too. Not that they also play the Bay Area thrash style, they don't, but in my opinion their thrash sounds more interesting. On their debut ''Lost in Violence' they sounded a lot like early Slayer, Kreator and Sodom. In 2011 bands like Warbringer and Havok got a lot more attention than the debut album of Essence, but that was unfair. They at least delivered an album of the same quality.

On this new album the Slayer influences are a little less but their style is still in the vein of old Destruction, Kreator and the more modern thrash like Havok. Vocalist Lasse Skov uses the same singing style as Mille Petrozza, but sounds a bit more aggressive. Again you can say that the band doesn't do anything that hasn't been done before, but this band sounds more mature than a lot of today's NWOTB and has some good ideas. Listen to the blast beat part in "Last Night of Solace", this is for certain the best song and at least they put in some of their own creative parts. The majority of the songs are well written, do stick and the melodic guitar solos are good and in balance. All the tracks will create a moss pit for certain and I know the critics will say that the double bass drums hammer away like on a lot of other thrash albums, but it just sounds all so nice. Also responsible for that is Peter Tägtgren, who made this album sound aggressive and to the point.

There is a big chance though that Essence will stay unnoticed again between the other new thrash bands like Suicidal Angel, Lost Society, Fueled By Fire, Warbringer, Lazarus AD, Evile, Havok and Municipal Waste. I have rated them high and this album beats the new album of Lost Society by more than a nose length...!

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