This is one release I’ve been waiting impatiently for. I love Australian Tourettes to bits for what they did on their ‘Sicksense’ album (2006). I’ve been hooked on their unique brand of metal since said release, and especially since the short set played in the press tent at Wacken last summer where the quartet fronted by Michele Madden impressed vastly with their brutal and tight energy.

‘Sicksense’ amazed me with its in-your-face playfulness in terms of genres and Madden’s brutal voice. What distinguishes her from e.g. Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy is the fact that she actually shows that she is able to do more than just growl. And exactly that contrast makes Madden all the more brutal in my ears.

On ‘Treason Songs’, the experimentation is less evident although still present. Apart from the last three tracks, the album conveys a teeth-grinding, mean sounding Tourettes, full of spite and weltschmerz.

Ashley Manning’s compositions are still not quite like the ones we hear elsewhere. The combined expressions of the four band members form a multi-facetted picture that can both enthral and confuse. There’s a lot of creativity as well as hard work hidden in these 12 tracks, trust me!

Even though Tourettes surely has the penchant for catchy songs, this is not where they focus their energy on this release. Although the tracks Seasoned in Destruction and D.N.A. have catchy choruses, this clearly never becomes an album with easily digested pop refrains.

Madden sounds harder and even more disgusted with the world than before. She’s a rumble from the underground and only comes to the surface with a cleaner and more feminine voice on one or two rare occasions. If the world won’t behave, then just f*cking shout in its face seems to be the manifest.

For those who think the world is a harsh place and that it needs to be told so every now and then. In-your-face, hard, yet complicated and creative.

Try it out. I never regretted doing so.