In the Jewish tradition, the angel Gabriel is not only the messenger of God, but he is also called the Angel of Death. Christians see him as the angel that told virgin Maria she was going to be pregnant. According to the Koran, angel Gabriel accompanied Mohammed on his journey to heaven. I think that Believer talks about the Christian version; Gabriel the messenger, but what the hell, let the music do the talking.

Somewhere on a dusty shelf I found the CD 'Sanity Obscure' (1990). More than 6 years must have passed since I listened to it, but I could still remember what the CD was like. After a silent period of 15 years Bachman and Daub are back with their fourth album. I immediately recognize their style with the first song "Medwton"; the vocals of Kurt Bachman haven't changed a lot and the typical, dry Believer guitar sound is still very recognizable. First track is a real thrash song; not very straight forward, but with the typical Believer tempo changes. Second song "A Moment in Prime" is also a typical Believer song with some Cynic influences, rather technical, lots of tempo changes and weird sometimes chaotic keyboard sounds.

"Stoned" starts rather fast, heavy and thrashy, after several minutes some weird noises and again some Cynic influences make the song very special. "Redshift" is the most experimental song so far, thrash fans that like riff after riff will not be too happy with this track. More open-minded thrashers will not have a big problem with this one. After that, "History of Decline" confirms once again that the Believer guys are big Cynic fans.

"Focused Lethality" is a thrashy song in typical Believer style, no more and no less. Softest song is "The Brave", a song with clean and brutal vocals. This is the last song you can call a 'normal' track. Last song "Nonsense Mediated Decay" can almost be called an instrumental, there are only spoken parts involved. Halfway through it sounds like a rap-song, after which it almost changes in a real party song. I am not so happy with the 10th track, I rather would have heard a normal Believer song.

Final conclusion is that Believer is back and that they continue on the path they left many years ago and they have my blessing (for what it's worth). If they would play in a church nearby, I would sit front row with pleasure.