The seventh album by this German thrash combo and my first acquaintance with the
band. At least a bit strange because I wasn't born yesterday and thrash metal is
one of my favorite genres. Like so many other German bands, you immediately hear the accent
in the voice of Oliver Lux but for me that is no problem. The harsh vocals are
not very special and sound very average, it is not a voice I will recognize
immediately in between a dozen other thrash metal singers. The band recorded the
album live in the studio and for that the band can be pleased, but the revearse
side of the coin is that small mistakes can't be corrected. For me that isn't a
problem.
That I am not very enthusiastic about the album is because the songs are not
very special, take for example the track "Angel of Blackness", the heavier part
sounds o.k., but the slow part doesn't. The same thing happens in the song "His Dark
Materials", the beginning is o.k., but I have no idea what they want to reach
with the softer middle part of the song, which sounds like a very bad Metaliica
immitation. Also in "Behind the Eyepiece" Oliver tries again to really sing, but
please stop with that and just thrash from start to finish. I know that it
brings variety to the songs, but that is only a advantage if it is executed well.
With "In Zaire" they cover a song of John Wakelin, but I didn't receive that one
when downloading the stuff, so I can't say anything about that.
For me this sounds like the umpteenth mix of German and Bay Area thrash metal with
grooving songs that are rather average and a singer that bores me after a few
songs. I guess this is a nice band to warm the audience up for an international
band in a local club, but not yet good enough to be the top of the bill.
