Motivik: Renouncement | A Fresh Take On Thrash Metal
(2024 – Roxx Records)
I can assure you that I’ve been searching for this CD for over a year. The reasons? Let’s call it intuition, since I’d never heard anything by them before, and as many of you know, we don’t delve too deeply into digital platforms because we’ll always prefer physical formats for listening to albums and bands. Something told me that behind Motivik there might be something that would blow my ears and soul away; I wasn’t wrong.
There’s one detail worth noting about Motivik: they’re a duo, consisting of Ryan Roebuck and Courtney Simmons, with Roebuck playing all the instruments and Simmons on vocals. They already have a previous album ( “Death Of The Gunman” from 2020) and a history dating back to the ’90s when the project was called Unorthodox. For the recording of “Renouncement,” they featured several guest musicians, including Jason Weaver, Chris Ackermann (Betrayal), Jason Wisdom (Becoming The Archetype), Andre Chiang (Shamash and Necromanicide), Greg Minier (The Crucified and Applehead), and Derek Corzine (Burial Extraction and Testimony Of Apocalypse), with Alex Emidio on drums.
The result couldn’t have been anything but great—quite the opposite, in fact. Listening to “Renouncement” is… ahhhh, a breath of fresh air in thrash metal. Without repeating formulas, but focusing on the genre’s fury and raw edge, Motivik is a kind of steamroller—heavy, fast, raw, and with melodies flying in every direction. A truly destructive pleasure.
And with “Renouncement,” Motivik seems to have set out to create a varied album, exploring different facets of the genre, even drawing on elements of traditional Heavy Metal and certain approaches to the alternative sounds of the ’90s—which is when the band veers most toward a certain lack of depth, though without ever completely losing steam. As they say, there’s a little bit of everything here, but the important thing is that Motivik never quite loses its edge.
And the opening is magnificent, with the instrumental “Palace Of Ashes” kicking things off with sublime guitar orchestration—the perfect springboard for “Dethroned,” which in a way reminds us a bit of the old, beloved Believer, featuring technical and fast riffs for a song that really blows you away.
Next up is the title track of this album: “Renouncement,” another explosive track that stands out for its fury and speed, yet still features some truly intriguing passages. But that’s not all Motivik has to offer; “Break The Walls” takes things in a more traditional and classic Heavy Metal direction, undoubtedly a great metal anthem.
“Septicemia” is arguably one of the highlights of an album that never falters and keeps the bar high throughout. Those riffs and mid-tempo rhythms are serious business, but what about “This Man I Am”? Here, Motivik once again tackles the more classic side of Metal while staying true to the roots of old-school Thrash Metal, with fast and violent riffs weaving through melodies and harmonies in epic, grandiose tones. Truly impressive.
“Harbinger Of Demise” is much more classic in its thrash conception, somewhat reminiscent of Tourniquet in its foundation but with melodic choruses that give that unique touch to yet another explosive track, while “Final Hour” is a classic ballad that opens with an interesting string arrangement and a calm atmosphere in its chords, with a hint of ’90s alternative rock.
At a moderate pace, with a slow and heavy rhythm, “Lord Of Death” makes its presence felt—a track characterized by “rapped” vocals, though the experiment isn’t entirely effective. Fortunately, we then encounter “The Storm Within,” where Motivik returns to the tried-and-true path of full-throttle thrash, with plenty of tight, heavy riffs perfect for headbanging (or “pogo,” as we say in Argentina), just like “The Head Collector,” which leans more toward technical thrash, featuring plenty of riffs and sharp, dry heavy beats, paired with choruses that fit the song’s concept perfectly.
Next up is “Dead By Daylight,” an interesting twist on Motivik’s Thrash Metal, with plenty of traditional Heavy Metal elements, chords, and bass lines that make it stand out from the rest in some way, and finally we arrive at “Once Again,” which begins as a sort of epic ballad before transitioning into pure riffs and a metal foundation in its compositional structure, managing to encapsulate, in a certain way, an essence rooted in Metal with certain musical touches that lend a distinct brilliance to the way Motivik approaches their unique take on Thrash Metal.
Motivik isn’t tied to any formula, and while their sound is centered within the boundaries of Thrash Metal, it’s clear that this doesn’t limit them in any way—they try everything and experiment with all kinds of sounds, with some high points and a few lows in our opinion, but when you take it all together, we’re left with the conclusion that “Renouncement” is more than just a classic Thrash Metal album.
Motivik’s journey is interesting, refreshing, and above all, features just the right songs to deliver an album that’s more than entertaining—full of varied moments and healthy “thrash-style” chaos, so to speak. The band, with all the humility that many lack, acknowledges their influence from bands like Deliverance, Tourniquet, Believer, The Crucified, and more. This is a small detail worth noting that helps us fully grasp the scope of what we’re talking about with “Renouncement”—and especially with Motivik.
We don’t have much information about the album’s recording and production, but we do know it was produced by Ryan Roebuck himself, mixed by Derek Corzine, and mastered by the well-known Rob Colwell—with a more than excellent result. What stands out most is the heaviness and robustness of the sound, with a wide spectrum of tonal ranges and excellent work on the various guitar tones. One noteworthy detail is the use of several guest vocalists on various tracks, which in no way detracts from the essence of the sound Motivik has given the album; rather, their contributions help build an album rich in variety while always staying focused on a specific concept.
The cover art is, to say the least, brilliant. Created by Seth Metoyer, it captures the album’s vibe with great originality and personality. It has that distinctive quality of album covers that identify the band without even listening to the album—or at least remind you of what you’re looking at. The inside of the booklet is solid, featuring the song lyrics and some photos of Motivik, and we’d be remiss not to mention that, in addition to the CD we have in hand, “Renouncement” is also available on vinyl.
Motivik has plenty of reasons to consider “Renouncement” a great album, an excellent body of work, and—why not?—a solid starting point for even greater things in the future. Its variety, versatility, and concept position it as a fine compendium of fresh ideas that simultaneously look back to the recent past, with a truly devastating sound.
And to wrap things up, as is our custom, we’re sharing one of the lyric videos released at the time—specifically for the track “Dethroned”—and be sure to check out the band’s social media to stay up to date on their latest news and updates…
https://www.facebook.com/MotivikBand
https://www.instagram.com/motivikband
