CYCLONE – Known Unto God

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5.0

• Bands:
  CYCLONE
• Duration: 00:20:24
• Available from: 02/06/2026
• Label:

• High Roller Records

A phenomenon that seems to never end is that of reunions: every year someone who had a band in the 80s turns up, discovers that it has now become 'a historical name' and thinks either of recontacting the old members and returning to the scene all together (something that almost never happened even at the beginning of the 2000s, let alone today) or of reviving the moniker by taking one or more people at random.

Among the various who have made this choice, there are Cyclone: ​​coming from Belgium, they were formed in 1981 but disbanded in 1993. In 2019, singer Guido Gevels decided to reform the band by contacting new musicians, with the aim of composing new material. Thus, this new EP, “Known Unto God”, is released this year for High Roller Records: these are five tracks of fairly anonymous thrash metal, which bring us a sound that is literally unchanged compared to what has been said in the past.
On the other hand, if already their debut “Brutal Destruction” from 1986 (although released with Roadrunner Records) did not shine for particular merits – in fact it seemed to hear the European version of Sacred Reich, in a historical period in which a masterpiece was released every month – think what it would be like to reproduce that same sound in 2026, moreover with people who have absolutely nothing to do with the history of the band.
The product itself isn't terrible, it can be listened to and flows discreetly: it sounds like a thousand other things you've already heard, but maybe there's always someone interested in this material.
There are some good songs, like the opener “Eliminate”, with a good chorus even if very simple; in general, nothing to be considered a miracle, for a formation that did not and does not hold up to comparison with other contemporary names of European thrash, who were not as big as Metallica but perhaps added something to the genre (it makes you think of our beloved Bulldozer).

Rather, one wonders the meaning of such an operation: for goodness sake, this is not an isolated case and we know plenty of operations bordering on cover bands. However, there is a difference between projects that have truly made history and those that have had the sole merit of being born in the right years.
In addition to this, if up until fifteen years ago it was easy for gems from the past to come back to the surface thanks to the internet, now the good things that should have re-emerged have already largely returned.
Having said that, if you are not a die-hard Cyclone fan you can very well move on: there are many new and valid groups (even under High Roller, which is a very respectable label), it is better to give space to those who today are inspired by the past but want to propose their own personal version of it, than to focus on those who in the 80s were light years away from the sacred monsters of the genre.