Order and Punishment

!T.O.O.H.!, in my opinion, is one of those once-in-a-generation bands that truly bring something innovative to their genre. Of course, when your genre is the pretty strange technical death / grind metal genre, it is really hard to stand out. But somehow, this band managed to bring something completely fresh with just two albums under their belt. Sadly, label problems derailed this promising band, but before they split, they presented us with their parting gift, Rad a Trest.

From the little intro on Al Amin, you know that this album is going to be far out. And it is. I think the first thing to notice about this release is...it's very well produced! Pod Vladou Bice had some pretty meh production, but this sounds cleaner, the drums much more polished, the riffs more defined. And thanks to this production, the brilliance of this band is in full showcase. The drumming is just amazing, going into different time signatures throughout each song without missing a single step, while the guitar riffs just keep coming from different angles, and with some pretty sweet harmonies and solos (the damn riff to Konec Kontinentalniho Kontejneru, with the little solos tacked on it, is just amazingly sexy), and Schizoid's vocals being just completely whacked out from extreme left field. And for those bass fans out there, there are some pretty kick ass bass lines in this album, most notably on Hanicka - Pribeh Nebozacky. And the weirdness doesn't stop there. At the end of Abu-Hassan, they go into this noisy ambient piece which totally slays man! Each song flows so well, you won't realize when the album actually ended, you will be so entertained.

Unfortunately, this album is terribly short (35 minutes), and it leaves you wanting more from these brilliant musicians, but sadly, they are not a collective group anymore, but Rad a Trest is definitely the best parting gift a band such as this could have left their fans. Thank you dudes.