The singer of this band's might sound like Billy Milano, but they do not sound like S.O.D, there is less punk to their thrashing and more of an hooky metal sound. Which means they sound more like M.O.D. Their press release tries to compare them to every genre under the sun, but at the end of the day they are a thrash band. Not as intense as Power Trip. They are less hard core influenced and jam around when it comes to the arrangements. They do not just go straight for your throat and let things groove a bit. "Stand Against the World" is the first song that sounds more dialed in. The kind of momentum they were riffing off of was hard to maintain.
The finds the inspiration sparking up again with "Supplicant" and they begin to remind me of GWAR as Joseph add a more theatrical throatiness to his voice. You can also hear some Judas Priest influence in the riffing. The drumming gets the job done , but is not blowing me away. The bass is pretty much buried most of the time as the vocals are way out front. "the Clockwork Grip" benefits from a catchier riff. It chugs like most thrash you have hear before, but they at least make the attempt to take you on a journey with each song. The singer's limited range, still keeps things more interesting than if this was all just growled or limited to your average hard core shout.
"Heartwrench" finds Schafer's roar leading the way. The galloped tension of the riff keeps the song moving forward with a great deal of power. The accents in the song are more Megadeth like than not. Like many thrash bands when they allow themselves to be fueled by a need for speed the songs suffer. It is not until "the Guillotine" that they begin to make social statements lyrically that are less than metaphoric. Which is fine, though the "everyone I loved deserves to die" is really the strongest sentiment that resonates here. They begin to lose more creative steam on "Fantasize the Beast" relying on solos to pull them out of the heavy handed rut. The lapse into rock n roll here is welcome, but another page that turns with this album.
The last song stomps around a very similar brand of sonic crunch they have been dishing out for the duration of this album. If you are into this newest wave of thrash and want something more dramatically adventurous than Power Trip this might be the album for you. I appreciate where they are doing with this, the vocals could use more love production wise and sit back in the mix, but for what they are doing I think they made the album they intended. While I like Power Trip and the original wave of this brand of thrash, I do not see this as an album that asks me to return to it , so I will round it down to an 8, but younger thrashers might have found their new favorite band.
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