Война миров

Six and a half years after the lukewarm punk rock record White Wolves, Korrozia Metalla released War of the Worlds that introduces yet another shift in genres for the diversified but at times lost band. This album goes partially back to the band's thrash metal roots with fast rhythms, harsh riffs and raw vocals. The band though also incorporates cold industrial rock and metal riffs and sound samples into its sound. It also occasionally flirts with gothic metal stylistics in form of keyboard sound patterns and occasional additional female vocals. The band's new directions remind of what some thrash metal veterans like Kreator released throughout the nineties. An experimental group like Voodoocult also comes to mind. Even though Korrozia Metalla doesn't equal the best efforts of said bands and its genre change might come at least one decade and a half too late, War of the Worlds can certainly be considered a certain return to form for the band that rekindles with its metal roots and makes us at times forget its poor punk rock records with racist lyrics a decade earlier.

The best track on this release might be ''Hunger'' with its sacral choirs, smooth atmospheric keyboard passages with string sections and bell sounds, heavy and slow riffs interwoven with short acoustic guitar sections and a combination of expressive raw lead vocals, some unusual low clean vocals and additional female backing vocals. Despite these numerous different ideas, the song sounds coherent and takes its time to unfold progressively through five entertaining minutes. This is both one of the band's most ambitious and most beautiful songs ever.

Another track of particular interest is album closer ''The Power of Evil'' that was already included in a raw version on the band's very first demo record twenty-five years earlier. The song is one of the few in the band's career to be inspired by traditional heavy metal with domineering bass sounds, galloping riffs and melodic lead guitar sounds recalling the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The raw signature vocals however clearly identify this track as an old Korrozia Metalla tune. The band should incorporate more heavy metal elements into its sound because the quintet can show off its instrumental skills in such tracks.

Not everything is perfect on this release that includes a low point with ''For Example, for Example'' that brings back the weird nerve-firing distorted vocals that were omnipresent on previous outputs when one was happy not to get reminded of them.

Still, War of the Worlds marks Korrozia Metalla's return to thrash metal territories and adds some atmospheric gothic rock and industrial metal sounds here and there. The flow of the album doesn't get interrupted by weird live songs or military marches this time around. I had almost given up hope but this album is actually decent. If you like what the band recorded in the late eighties and early nineties, you should give this release a spin.