They are picking up where they left off on "No Place For Disgrace" . I liked " When the Storm Comes Down", but the production was odd like they were trying to sound like "And Justice For All..." Truth be told this band was a casualty of the 90s as grunge displaced real metal and the bands did not know what to do. Few were able to hang touch like Slayer . I guess at the time I assumed Eric AK could no longer hit the high notes , rather than he was conforming to the times and operatic singing was not cool anymore. His voice sounds better than the bulk of his peers. He is not jumping up into his falsetto screams. But he does hit higher notes in chest voice. He also has ample amount of grit on songs like "Prepare For Chaos . The song has a really catchy riff. It's not as big of an anthem as "Recover" ."Slowly Insane " just kind of gallops out of the previous song with a similar yet perhaps more unrelenting tone as the previous song. The guitar tone is mean as hell and they still have a knack for hooking you in with the riffs.
They burst into the thrashing burst of chugs and gallops on "Architects of Chaos" , they have convincing energy , though they have come at you head on now for six songs now so I am ready for a shift in the dynamic range of the album. This begins to lose a little of the edge on "Demolition Man" which begins to feel like more of the same. Their energy is infectious and they manage to have enough catchy riffs to keep me interested. "Unwelcome Surprise" taps into their more classic sound which makes the fact it's full chug ahead once again pretty forgivable. "Snake Eye" taps into a similar energy. They prove that being veterans at their craft allows them to create these riffs that interlock while keeping the fires of inspiration burning hotter than most of their peers. "Survive" finds the band continuing to to be riff masters. Normally cool riffs alone doesn't fly with me, but the commanding performance by Erik really sells it . The chorus is almost power metal it's so anthemic.
" Good or Bad" works off of the guitar heroics, though the vocals take a decent stab at it, this one just took more listens to grow on me. They close with "the End" which recalls the "Doomsday for the Deceiver" days. He goes into a higher range on the chorus, but it's not as piercing at it once was, for better or for worse. I'll round this one up to a 9 as I think it's better than I could expect when it comes to reliving the glory days of thrash.
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