Review: Cruel Force – Haneda

Review by Sandre the Giant Released: 27th March 2026 I’ll be honest, I missed the new record from Germany thrashers Cruel Force when it came out at the end of March because of real life shit going on, but I loved their last record ‘Dawn of the Axe’ from 2023 and so when I was reminded that ‘Haneda’ was out I inwardly cursed my inattentiveness and jumped straight on it. I couldn’t have made a better decision. ‘Haneda’ is out now through Shadow Kingdom Records. As virulently rapid and sleek as ‘Dawn of the Axe’ had been, ‘Haneda’ is a glorious reprise of every great thrash record from the 80s not written by the Big Four. The chaotic thrust of ‘Titan’s Awakening’ is pure early Forbidden, while the incredible lead work on ‘Sword of Iron’ and the insatiable thrashing ‘Savage Gods’ is music to my battle vest wearing ears. Cruel Force have the formula perfected, blending classic Bay Area thrash with a modern incisiveness and ferocity that is something to behold. Bands don’t really give us…