Band Line Up 2023
Neil Stevens – Vocals and Bass
Leigh Rumsby – Guitar
David Hill – Guitar
Gus Ratcliffe - Drums
Hailing from one of the most delicate, quaint, and quiet corners of the UK, the paradox of the destructively break-neck and boisterous East Anglian thrashers, ELIMINATION, has been enjoyed since the band’s inception in 2007. Ensuring an impactful return to the thrash scene after a seven-year hiatus, ELIMINATION released its incendiary offering, “Echoes of the Abyss”, in 2021, showcasing just how far the thrashers evolved over their epic fifteen-year odyssey. The palpable ferocity of the eight-track ‘thrashterpiece’ is backboned by guitar-centric offerings, immersed with spiralling leads, and fuelled by the muscular jaws of heavy metallic soundscapes of unbridled brutality, ELIMINATION combined weighty influences of the much-admired Bay Area, equally merging nuances of DEATH and KREATOR into the bestial full-length to ensure you fell hard for its most potently infectious release yet.
The band’s colossal journey first started in 2009 with the brutal debut studio full-length, “Destroyed by Creation”. Set to annihilate, ELIMINATION made an indelible impression, penetrating thrashers’ cores with its bludgeoning tight rhythm section, aggressive riffing and incendiary guitar solos, serving up punishing US thrash-inspired metal. After the crushing success of their debut, ELIMINATION gigged with fellow UK thrashers EVILE, old school legends FORBIDDEN and heavy metal monsters ACCEPT, fuelling ELIMINATION’s thrash onslaught further by subsequently pummelling the underground into a foray of filth with their sophomore album, “Blood of Titans”, in 2011. Retaining the old school characteristics of the bold Bay Area, ELIMINATION charged forward in a bloodthirsty attack with its second release, ensuring a gnarly nod to SLAYER, METALLICA and TESTAMENT was felt by all, infusing elements of NWOBHM for good measure.
The snarling thrash beast ELIMINATION awoke from its quiet slumber in 2020 with a new line-up and a clear maturation in identity, hurtling its way back into the murky underground with full force, smashing its way into the New Wave of Thrash Metal once more. With a voracious appetite for harvesting thrashers’ souls, and an equally insatiable desire to lay down its razor-sharp riffs of destruction once more, ELIMINATION took its audial assault to dizzying new heights, punishing with the gargantuan EP, “Of Gods and Beasts”. Rammed with violent tempos, neck-wrecking riffs, and strapping vocals, this three-track heavyweight was a precursor to the blistering, critically acclaimed 2021 full-length, “Echoes of the Abyss”, a strikingly seismic, uncompromising thrash offering that won the hearts and souls of thrashers worldwide.
After producing such a bruising release, it would only be a matter of time until ELIMINATION’s uncompromising thrash brawn would become an inevitable feature of the gig-circuit and festivals once more. With appearances at Hammerfest and HRH Metal under the band’s belt, it was August 2021 that celebrated one of the highlights of the band’s career, playing a spectacularly impassioned set on the Jägermeister stage at Bloodstock Open Air; ELIMINATION wasn’t there to maim, but rather set on stuffing the rambunctious crowd like a fat, juicy slab of fois gras, filling them with their furious cuts until their ears were fit to burst. Subsequent sets at Deadsoul Fest and Dayfest continued to fuel ELIMINATION’s desire to share its bold and bloody thrash with the metal scene, with more appearances at established festivals on the horizon. With 2022 welcoming the addition of new drummer, Gus Ratcliffe, to add to ELIMINATION’s heavy artillery and its metallic maelstrom, the band hellbent on forging a new chapter in its ambitious journey to eliminate thrash souls worldwide.
The first single to feature the punishing new line-up, “Icon of Despair”, was released on the 29th July 2022. In 2023 the band have a new album in the works and will be appearing at some of the fantastic UK Rock / Metal festivals.
