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Artillery > B.A.C.K. > Reviews
Artillery - B.A.C.K.

Giving Artillery Some Flak - 45%

Tanuki, November 11th, 2019

Back when I first started reviewing, when I was a naive little raccoon dog eager to show the world what a bold nonconformist I was, I claimed thrash metal was at its best in the 90's. In my defense, the early 90's saw quite a handful of late bloomers that, for a fleeting moment, managed to push the boundaries of the genre to its aggressive and technical limits. Then the rest of the 90's happened, and my theory is now something I feel the need to apologize for. As exemplified by Artillery's painfully mediocre B.A.C.K., 1999 had the power to reduce even thrash's best and brightest to shells of their former selves. Get it? Artillery shells? Man, am I a better reviewer nowadays or what?

At the very least, B.A.C.K. is free from the most common symptom blighting this era of thrash; a complete non-resemblance to the band's earlier output. It was meant to be a comeback, after all, so it has the decency of sounding like an Artillery album. Unfortunately, it's like a self-portrait that requires you cock your head to one side to see the resemblance. It illustrates the defining characteristics of By Inheritance out of sheer necessity. And with fruit-scented Sharpie markers. Little magic remains in the Middle Eastern folk-influenced leads of the Stutzer brothers, and none whatsoever remains in Flemming Rönsdorf's operatics. Rönsdorf was once my first draft pick in many a fantasy thrash supergroup, though his swansong with Artillery is actually painful to listen to. It sounds like he was fighting against strep throat, and further warped under the lens of abysmally produced 90's metal. The end result is a hoary rasp with the range of a javelin thrown by me.

The frequent spoken-voice interludes almost come as a reprieve from the scratchy singing, despite representing an irritating 90's zeitgeist of poor songwriting. One of the album's stronger tracks, 'How Do You Feel', is spoiled by an obnoxious croak enquiring how I feel every five seconds. Well Artillery, since you asked, I was feeling fine. Until the athletic thrash riff bolstering this song yielded to a sequence of Rage Against the Machine chugs. Other promising tracks like 'Theatrical Exposure' and 'Www' tell a similar tale, beginning as promising tech thrash manifestos but inevitably deteriorating into atonal chug filibusters. The most vulgar example of all is 'Out of the Trash'. I complained that the technical showmanship of 'Back in the Trash' didn't feel like a logical continuation of 'In the Trash', but 'Out of the Trash' is in its own league of irrelevance. The pendulous, misguided grooves are strangulated by a meandering march, proving to be an anti-climactic last hurrah of this trilogy.

Luckily, this is an Artillery album, so a highlight or two are all-but guaranteed. 'The Cure' - though suffering from the same problem as 'How Do You Feel' - is still an effective bumpstart when the album's engine stalls and starts to sputter. A distinctly 'Damage Inc.'-esque riff spearheads this hot-blooded barnstormer, only slowing down at intervals to deliver acrobatic, memorable sweeps. This track in particular reminded me very much of Razor's similarly inopportune Decibels. A glimmer of their songwriting prowess tries to break through the miasma of industrialized grooves and awful vocals that defined the late-90's, and as a result, the effort is what makes you sad. Like seeing a bird trying to thrash its way out of one of those 6-pack rings. For this reason, I really wanted to cut B.A.C.K. some S.L.A.C.K., but couldn't due to its L.A.C.K. of killer T.R.A.C.K.s.

Shades of grey everywhere - 62%

Felix 1666, February 22nd, 2018
Written based on this version: 1999, CD, Diehard Music

It is easy to throw dozens of superlatives into every paragraph and there exists a bigger challenge than to slaughter an album thoroughly. Yet sometimes it is difficult to explain why a full-length sounds neither outstanding nor bad. "B.A.C.K.", released in the final days of the last millennium, belongs to these works that are not black or white. It's not Artillery's "Cold Lake", "Unveiling the Wicked" or "Turbo". The album holds some nice details, nevertheless, this disc needs binoculars to see the back of its predecessors. The compositional brilliance that made songs like "Khomaniac" or "Beneath the Clay (R.I.P.)" to classics is almost completely missing and the same applies for the darkness of "Fear of Tomorrow" and the vehemence of "Terror Squad". Admittedly, the band without rhythm section - only the Stützer brothers and Flemming Ronsdorf form the line-up - has not been lazy during the creative process. The songs do not suffer from a lack of substance, but really compelling moments remain rare.

As mentioned before, Flemming is still responsible for the lead vocals. But the Flemming from 1999 is not the Flemming from 1990 who contributed the fantastic vocals for "By Inheritance". This can happen. The Wehrmacht from April 1945 was not comparable with the Wehrmacht from September 1939 as well. But let's put history aside. On the here reviewed album, Flemming sounds hysterical and nearly sick. I was almost alarmed when I heard his first words. The clean, powerful and pretty high-pitched singing that gave the aforementioned album a special flavour are a thing of the past. Maybe due to the lyrics of the opener, he sounds like a robot. Too bad that he identifies himself with his role so much that he fails to regain his charisma during the entire album. In its worst moments, his voice sounds tinny and odd, in the best moments, he reaches a solid level. But no matter how you look at it, the vocal performance is disappointing.

The song material does not cause headaches and the guys avoid predictability or repetitiveness. They try to keep the tradition. After "In the Trash" and "Back in the Trash", they offer "Out of the Trash", but exactly this piece exemplifies the ups and downs of "B.A.C.K.". Acceptable, more or less speedy and lively lines open the track and everything is fine until the stupidly designed instrumental part appears. It sounds like an improvisation and any kind of atmosphere is breaking down. On the other hand, it is positive to experience that the guys are not able to write completely lacklustre tracks. Even the late tracks have energizing details, just listen to the Slayer-inspired riff at the beginning of "The Cure". Is this the little brother of the "Reign in Blood" riff? Unfortunately, the song is not crowned by a good chorus. It wants to create an eerie mood, but the mediocre vocals and a comparatively weak melody line destroy this intention.

The degree of harshness lies between "By Inheritance" and the two early works. It's good to see that the band does not have the guts to confront the audience with another "Razamanaz" fiasco. Cover songs have not been recorded. Furthermore, the slightly rumbling production underlines the heaviness of the tracks. Yet I admit that I would have preferred a sequel to "By Inheritance", although this album has a pretty polished sound. Nonetheless, the rather lumpy sound deprives the guitars a little bit of their strengths. And this is the story of "B.A.C.K.": one finds shades of grey everywhere. It is therefore not easy to recommend a great number of single songs, but in my humble opinion, "How Do You Feel" and "Theatrical Exposure" lead the pack. Nevertheless, I ask for your understanding that I am not able to describe them with any superlatives.

Shot in the Back by a Rival Heir - 73%

bayern, October 1st, 2017

I have to admit I didn’t like this album at all the first time I heard it. A major reason for this was that I had gotten a hold of the “Mind Factory” demo a few months earlier, and it made me cry (literally) for the band never being able to use this marvel as a base for “By Inheritance II”… I didn’t have to wait long for this comeback opus to appear, but it made me even sadder as the only seeming advantage the Danes had now was that they were pretty much the first from the group of 80’s veterans who had voted to come back in the late-90’s. So how can one be too critical towards “the early birds”?

Well, he can cause “the bird”, or rather “birds”, in question have spread their wings much wider for this reunion effort that falling down with a thud was a very probable occurrence. But I guess anything went back in those times when the old school resurrection campaign was still in its spawning stages…

and our Artillerists took a full advantage of the situation as the Stutzer brothers, the two axemen and the main driving force behind the band’s endeavours, have taken care of business by also not forgetting their stunt during the Artillery dormant period, Missing Link, the project with which they paid their tribute to the 90’s groovy/post-thrashy trends. In other words, instead of a full-fledged look back at their roots, the guys have “cooked” a blend of classic technical thrashers and groovy bouncers the latter possible leftovers from the Missing Link recording sessions. The resultant mish-mash definitely has its moments, but more often than not it simply fails to deliver convincingly as the band were not supposed to feel nostalgic for a fading wave they’ve never been a part of in the first place.

If there’s any good piece of news for the band’s old fans as a starting point, that would be the presence of Flemming Ronsdorf and his great attached, pathos-like vocals. The man is in his nature once again, and one can’t possibly feel completely down listening to his wailing, highly-strung tirades which instantly make “Cybermind” a captivating listen, the brothers providing tasteful, melodic licks at every opportunity to make this cut a glorious reminder of the band’s early feats. “How Do You Feel” is a vigorous headbanger, and the listener can’t help but feel quite satisfied at this early stage with the sharp rapidfire riffs scorching his/her ears with fiery passion. “Out of the Trash” is rather “out of the thrash” as this is a mellow crossover joker the guys relaxing with merry unpretentious rhythms, jamming like schoolboys during their first booze-soaked party. Well, joke fillers are not such a rare phenomenon for one to be frowning for hours on end, but “Final Show” is a jumpy groover not promising much at all in terms of old school thrash happiness, and this is where the old guard will start changing his/her perceptions… not so fast since a speedy passage arrives mid-way to bang the head affirmatively, and save this number from being another waste of time for the old school metal lover.

“WWW” is a lively shredder which again clings more towards the air-headed speed metal patterns, but one can do much worse than make the audience jump around in a silly, nonchalant manner. “Violent Breed” is a heavy squasher which tries to marry the band’s staple intricate delivery to the groovy post-thrashisms the ensuing therapy mildly entertaining without being totally mesmerizing. “Theatrical Exposure” carries on in the same vein logically serving more theatrical drama with more vociferous stomps, the excellent antics of Ronsdorf and the delectable lead-driven dashes placing this number at least in the “above average power/thrashers” category. The title-track comes with all the guns blazing, the guys intent on making it count with speedy crescendos flying from all sides creating furious headbanging atmosphere that surely compensates for the few previous, not very convincing songs. One more of the same would be great, thank you, and the band tend to their fans’ wishes by shooting “The Cure”, a very appropriately-titled cut with dynamic thrashing guitars flattening the scenery, making the fans blissful and tired after the instigated mosh. And this “cure” should have been the closer as the following “Paparazzi” is another “modern vs. classic” symbiosis which mid-tempo leaps and bounds fail to please the way the last two tracks have.

Yeah, it’s a mixed bag, this cannonade, with some cannons hitting the target, and others missing it by a long shot, but you can’t blame the guys too much; after all, they’ve been out of practice for quite some time, especially when it comes to aiming at the retro metal conventions. Besides, they weren’t fully certain that the 90’s vogues would die out before long, just like that, so why abandon a still sailing, albeit run on just a half-engine, ship? All options have to stay open during such a volatile period. I know quite a few metalheads who loved, and still do, this album so the guys must have done something right; right?

A major reason why the Artillery vessel didn’t sink without a trace b.a.c.k.... sorry, back then was that the fanbase were ready to devour whatever, and whenever, crumbs of old school metallisms were thrown at them, even more so when coming from more familiar hands. Drawbacks like a few grooves here, a few grooves there were not going to spoil the fun too much having in mind the several steady classic tunes present; for some those flashes more than sufficed as a full-blooded nod to the old school was still deemed a heresy… so why not enjoy those first sparkles rather than condemning the whole opus due to references to a still extant, and also still dominant at that time, musical tendency?

“Yes, why not indeed”, I hear a voice from within me say, and although I refuse to listen to it right now, with the sounds of “Khomaniac” rushing out of the speakers straight into my third eye, I may eventually choose to be guided by it, but only after it’s promised to show me the Artillerists’ masterplan to a full-on “back to the roots” operation.

Most of the magic remains - 82%

autothrall, March 15th, 2011

Artillery had on and off felt like a case of unfinished business. How could a group of human beings conjure the magnificence of By Inheritance and then drift into nothingness? So when it was clear they were reforming at the close of the 90s, my eyes lit up with both anticipation and dread. The decade had twisted so many legendary thrash artists in the wrong direction. So much could have gone wrong. We might have been forced to suffer Flemming Rönsdorf nu-metal, or worse. This was not a complete reunion from the 1990 lineup. The Stützer's and Rönsdorf return, with Morten taking up his earlier instrument (bass) for the recording, and the trio enlisted the qualified drummer Per Jensen (Invocator, The Haunted, etc) to lay down the percussion.

It turns out we never had much cause for concern. Artillery positioned themselves straight back to their brand of exciting, uplifting thrash metal, with a few modern flourishes. First, the guitar tone is much thicker, with the rhythms packed just as strongly as the leads and harmony. B.A.C.K. is not as airy and grandiose as By Inheritance. You don't feel like you're in that same majestic, bewildering space. They also channel a lot more effects into the guitars, and the riffs are an inkling less complex and well defined than their predecessors. The bass is thicker in the mix, but it generally serves as an afterthought. Perhaps this comes with Morten's 6-string focus; though he was previously the bassist for the first two albums, he might have just plunked these lines down in the wake of Thorslund not being available (or anyone else). There are exceptions, like the rock-oriented "Final Show" which has decent fills. As for Flemming, he's just as charming as ever, but not as loud through the mix as the older material (in tune with the times), and often a bit strained.

This album is not nearly as thorough as By Inheritance. It opens with its two most energetic and entertaining tracks, and then drops off slightly in quality. "Cybermind" is intense, with its trademark, amazingly well conceived riffs and structural swerves, a massive thrashing groove carved into its verse, and a great lead sequence. "How Do You Feel" cuts from the very same cloth, an obsessive charge forward into riffs that would not have been out of place on their 1990 opus, and this is perhaps my single favorite track on this album. The verse guitars are fucking amazing here, and the thicker tone really drives it home. Then comes the third track in the 'Trash' trilogy, "Out of the Trash", funky melodies and bass-lines alternating with straight thrash not unlike the first two songs, and not ultimately as memorable. "Final Show" has a lot more hard rock grooves to it, with the aforementioned funky bass-lines, and this did very little for me.

But before they let the attention span of the album drift off, they belt out "WWW" and "Violent Breed", which both have a few great riffs spread about them, even if the vocals are excessively corny (especially the stop/start thrash bridge lines in the latter). "Theatrical Exposure", "The Cure" and "B.A.C.K." return to the pacing of "Cybermind" and "How Do You Feel", with only a few irritating vocal lines between them; and the closer "Paparazzi" is also worthwhile, curving into some huge, slower hooks, though once again it feels as if he's stretching his pipes a bit too far and might need a cup of hot lemon tea.

Obviously, anyone expecting an album at the level of By Inheritance would be mildly letdown here, including myself, but it's not a disappointment of The Phantom Menace proportions (which came out the same year). To be honest, you can get a lot of mileage out of "Cybermind" and "How Do You Feel" alone, which stand among the best songs Artillery have ever written, and a handful of others here follow straight in their footsteps. The only tracks I really don't care for in the long run were "Final Show" and "Out of the Trash"; they mar the overall effectiveness of the track list, but it's not as if they're entirely void of ear candy. Considering what a dry year 1999 was for this genre (only Sodom and a few black/thrash acts like Witchery and Necrodeath had released anything worthwhile), it serves as a shining if flawed comeback album with some legs to stand on. Alas, in another, frustrating turn of events, the Danes would disassemble once more in 2000.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Incredible comeback! - 94%

DGYDP, June 13th, 2008

Like most thrashers, I only had one question in my mind before listening to this album: will it be as good as their classic albums? It didn't take me long to figure out that this wasn't as good as their classic albums ... this IS a classic album. First of all, this is neither an exact replica of their old work nor a half-assed attempt at selling out. Those wanting to hear By Inheritance 2 or Torture Squad 2 are warned; this is quite different from the older albums. It’s not pure thrash either, but more about that later.

It is -as with all Artillery albums- unique. Some minor groove metal influences seem to have found their way into most of the songs, but unlike some other people this doesn't bother me at all. In fact, this provides a healthy degree of variation. Groovy riffs are mixed in with the legendary oriental-sounding Artillery riffs and neck-breaking thrash riffs. The solos seem to have a bit too much of wah attached to them at times, but this doesn't mean they aren't amazing. Quite to the contrary, the solos are miles above average (which was to be expected).

However, the riffing isn't completely consistent throughout the entire record. There are a whole lot of mind-blowing ones (the intro of Cybermind, for example) while others don't seem to go anywhere. This isn't a major issue because the amount of good riffs are amazing enough to sustain the entire album. The bass sounds good too; at times perhaps a bit too low in the mix but great lines are scattered over all the tracks. The drumming is near perfect, the only minor flaw is the sound of the snare. I'm guessing this isn't the fault of the drummer though but rather an error on the part of the engineer or producer.

Flemming delivers, as usual, an incredible performance as a vocalist. His tone has changed quite a bit compared to By Inheritance, there are less higher shrieks and when they do appear they're nowhere near the ones of the older albums. That's not to say it's bad though, not at all. A weird type of effect (I honestly have no idea what it is) makes Flemming sound very strange and artificial at times, which once again is probably a misjudgment by the producer. The effect wouldn't sound bad in minor doses but it's simply overused here.

The biggest problem on BACK seems to be the production. First of all it's not as polished and clear as By Inheritance and at times the mix even sounds raw. Depending on your preferences this might be good or bad, but to me it was a good choice and suits the music very well. But, the producer also made some mistakes. The effect on the vocals, for example, or the sound of the snare drum. As mentioned before the bass is too low in the mix at times, which is a shame because once it pops up the tone is quite good.

Overall, this is an awesome album. It has some flaws and isn't very consistent but the good parts make up for it. One of the best comeback albums I have ever heard and worth to be released under the name of Artillery. Those wondering if this is as good as their classic albums should stop worrying; this IS a classic album. I should also mention that some songs should have been b-sides in stead of put on the album. What I would have done was take the best riffs from the lesser songs and add them to the other songs - or simply have the lesser songs as bonus tracks. Recommended to ... everybody.

Back for more..... - 86%

malibuman, July 19th, 2006

If anything good came of the Thrash revival of the late nineties it must surely be Whiplash’s gloriously Thrashtastic ‘Thrashback’ album and also this 1999 release from Artillery. Sure, Flemming Ronsdorf’s vocals are perhaps not to everyone’s tastes, but musically this CD contains enough riffs to satiate even the most demanding Thrasher.

Looking at the cover though, it’s rather amusing to see the 80’s cheesiness return in all it’s glory. Not only do you have a reaper bursting rather comically from a coffin but in the background there’s the chimneys from ‘Survive’ and a barrel of toxic waste straight from the school of Ed Repka (Megadeth, Evil Dead, etc).

But on to the music….and what music. This is great stuff. Sadly it seems to have been a one off (like the Whiplash album) but at least we got this one before they packed it in for good (?). Fans of the Haunted will be interested to know that Per Jensen stands in on drums here, and once you know this you will recognize his style for sure. He certainly plays a blinder here as does the whole band and the album is superbly produced by Andy Sneap.

Will this convert the Mall-core kiddies to the cause? I doubt it, Artillery are a band who have a very distinct and individual style and I don’t see this album gaining them many new converts (perhaps why there hasn’t been another one) and I don’t suppose the photo on the back will do them any favours either - 3 blokes who look like your Dad basically….which is a shame because they haven’t lost their touch for writing great songs by any means. I guess the closest style I could compare Artillery would be The Haunted, but without that Anselmoesque aggressive overtones that modernity has brought them…you could definitely say Witchery are close too but without the Black Metal elements.

Best songs here would have to be ‘WWW’, ‘Final Show’ (which sounds a bit like Harvester of Sorrow, but don’t let that put you off) and ‘B.A.C.K.’.

Basically, if you liked Artillery back in the day then you won’t be disappointed with this one, it’s probably their second best release, bested only by the insane genius of ‘Terror Squad’ and really it’s a crying shame that this wasn’t the catalyst for a whole slew of new-Millennium releases….

Ah well…..it’s never over til the fat lady sings, so maybe there’s still hope?

What, oh yeah - I forgot about Charlotte Church.

Dammit, that’s your lot then.

Artillery’s B.A.C.K, but is it the same Artillery? - 68%

Corimngul, August 17th, 2005

Apparently there are no exceptions. Every band has members who do nothing but following their idolized gods. Sheep. The Colombian Darkness is the best example of this, but B.A.C.K. stinks from it too. Apparently Artillery watched their old heroes losing their grip, leaving the thrash scene for the favored groovecore and groove metal ditto. Apparently Artillery wanted to follow them, and did re-group in order to make one of the more longed-for comebacks in history, a comeback that should, hopefully, render Artillery a place in the ranks of the big guys.

Apparently there are few, if any successful comebacks. Most of them tend to be so-called meh:s. Artillery turned out to make a meh, if a fainter one than usual. Apparently Artillery didn't quite accomplish neither a thrash, nor a groove album. Instead Artillery opted for both and made a mess out of it. This was done by opening each song with a riff bound to make any thrashhead happy - or at least agree not to argue its existence. So far, so good, but then... what? They do switch between thrash and groove sections throughout the songs. It's done in a decent fashion, but it's a fatal blow towards the parts sounding like old Artillery. This switching is taken to its extremes on Final Show where we get a riff, which is suddenly removed when it's time for Flemming to sing a strophe. In between the verses they do riffing all right, and then there's a decent groove metal chorus. This just isn't satisfactory.

Apparently, this isn't the only place where Artillery disappointed with lyrics. They've tried "modern" effects everywhere. This is a problem with recent albums. Computerized mixing has made it far too easy for the band to use effects that should not be used. Take the hardcorish distortion of Theatrical Exposure, or the barely audible robotic voice on each and every song as examples. That "robotic" voice is nothing but a filter removing all but the lowest tones of Flemming voice, when admittedly he isn't that low-pitched. Apparently he has weakened too. He uses high-pitched screams - which, due to too much beer, aren't that high-pitched where there once used to be almost falsetto-ish growls.

Apparently Artillery erases their old trademarks. Take the two Stützer brothers (guitarists, one doubling on bass) as an example. At times their work is former Artillery, but in deed they're the outposts most affected by the modernisms. In a suffering way. Violent Breed has strophes preceded by a great riff, lined by great riffs. But then there's a scale followed by stupid Annihilator-ities. It doesn't work well. Agreed, it works better than when Annihilator does it but that is because of the actual thrash around it, not because of any groove metal of higher quality. Other stupid things are a slow part in Paparazzi without any point at all. It doesn't fit; it doesn't exist for more than nine seconds during which Artillery suck, after the song continues as it was before. Pointless.

Out of the Thrash is the latest, weakest, most inconsistent and outright worst song in the Trash-series. It reminds of the Artillery we used to know though. But... it’s a sad excuse. It is however not before one reaches the title track that one realizes that B.A.C.K. would have been made much more justice as a single. The album idea is totally unnecessary. The song B.A.C.K. is total Terror Squad-esque material.. Very consistent, almost too much. It does nothing but bringing thrash, spreading headbanging in its catchy, hard, heavy and thrashy Artillery-trademark way. It's classic and furious material with the best lyrics, vocals and drums on the entire record. And even then it doesn't reach the glorious heights of By Inheritance.

All in all B.A.C.K. is Artillery's worst album. As such it could be rather good, but it isn't exactly good. It's decent at best, something the drums aren't. Thrash drums just aren't done that way. They aren't.

Back indeed - almost as good as the classics - 77%

UltraBoris, March 14th, 2003

So this here is a pretty damn good thrash album - though every once in a while it strays into some silly modernisms that make this not as good as the old stuff by this band. Fortunately, they are few and far between.

First - Cybermind. Great intro riff, though someone needs to tell that drummer to shut the fuck up and quit hitting the tom every beat, it is quite distracting. Also, the verses are a bit uninspired, but otherwise quite solid, and the riffage under the solo is awesome. Though again, please kill that drummer.

Next, How Do You Feel - a pretty fast intro, this is sounding more like standard thrash metal here. Especially after the first main riff and when the vocals kick in around 0.33 - now THIS is the Artillery we know and love. Total headbanging insanity here. The chorus is also pretty good (other than the kinda robotic "how... do you... feel" part, that's just silly) and the riff that explodes out of nowhere after the main solo. Top notch. Though again I gotta say, kill that drummer. Half the time he's doing some silly shit - klonk, klonk, klonk - very distracting. Then, the second solo is bludgeoning insanity. Classic Artillery, kids.

Out of the Trash, the latest in the trash series. Very solid intro and under-verses riff section, again more of what makes Artillery sound like Artillery. Though the lead guitarist's tone is a bit silly between the two verses - that little fill reminds me a little bit of Kirk Hammett to be truly inspiring. Nonetheless the pre-chorus riff is cool, and the chorus is great - very reminiscent of the old "Life in the trash, it's dirty and mean" stuff. You are a sad excuse! Out of the trash! After the chorus we have a little interlude, though... and the horrible guitar tone comes in again. A very uninspired solo, with the riffs going on and off too. Finally, a solid riff at around 2.15 sets things right, and then the soloing picks up in quality too for a bit, but then we have that silly fill, followed by another killer verse. This song is pretty inconsistent - it's got its great moments and its terrible ones.

Final Show - average opening riff, going into a midpaced bludgeoner... however when the verses kick in, the riff drops away. Oh dear. Terror Squad, this is not. This sounds more like Pantera than anything else at this point. However, at around 1.58 the song is redeemed - this is where it should have begun, because before that it was uninspired crap, but here this goes into thrash fucking mayhem. Great solid riffage, and good soloing too. Unfortunately, at 3.28 the song takes another step down. Then back up at around 4.26 - the song alternates between the good thrash and the average groove stuff.

WWW - haha what a stupid song title. What's next? TCP/IP? Nonetheless, a great opening riff. This is total classic Artillery, especially with the emphasis of the main riff around 0:38 in... the chorus is a bit ridiculously silly, though - especially with the distorted hardcore-ish vocals. Fortunately, it's about the only time on the album that the vocals take on this quality, but the chorus is, as I said, really dumb. World wide web! World wide web! That's a total Dew-Scented or whatever style chorus. Nice solo comes up soon, and then the main riff. Overall a good song. "Oh no, she's a he!!!" Pretty hilarious lyrics.

Violent Breed - intro riff is total classic thrash, but after that during the verses we get more of the non-thrash groove stuff, which actually works well in this case. "See if you can take the heat!" - I hate the dropout of riffs under the chorus, but the riffs between lines are killer. Also, great solo - the lead guitar on this album is quite impressive.

BACK - the title track starts off in pretty impressive fashion. Good catchy head-banging under the verse riff, then around 1.41 the song really totally kicks in - this is the stuff Terror Squad dreams are made of. Not quite By Inheritance, but still, it's catchy, it's fun, it's worth a headbang.

The Cure - solid opening section, and nice catchy verses. The only complaint I have is the "random geek vocals" - supposedly someone on the radio complaining about an escape from the asylum ("we have a patient escape"...) - but the verses are good, and then the chorus part is fucking excellent. "Sane, I'll never be again!" Then the middle section is kinda stop-go with the riffage... this is good solid groove, though, not nearly as bad as This Love or something, and the solo works well too. All I gotta say is, dude, drummer guy, quit abusing that poor tom. Another verse and chorus are done well. The highlight of the second half.

Paparazzi - album closer. Nice opening riffs, and kind of a busy-sounding verse section with the loud double-bass. Decent riff, though. At 1.23 we have the slowed down part, but a thrash break this is not. Nonetheless, it's only about 9 seconds long, before the chorus. This is classic Artillery here - "even when they die!!" - the vocal presentation is totally Terror Squad. Then a great fast solo, before a more mid-paced section. "And slowly find its way to you" - this is okay but not spectacular, it gets better when it speeds up. Overall, not a bad song, but the slow parts lack the "headbang or die" hook of, say "Time Has Come".

Overall - the album works. Lots of fucking thrash riffs, and even when they throw in the groove, it's still pretty effective. The worst Artillery album, but still pretty damn essential.