No Way Out

A fairly surprising entry at the end of the year… a pre-Christmas gift of some sorts also having in mind that the guys’ debut “Tribal Tech” from the distant 1994 remains an undisputable highlight on the 90’s modern thrash horizon. I listened to said debut less than a month before the sophomore appeared, but this is a very frequently-rotated CD in my household so we can’t talk any tangible magical occurrence here.

Yes, this fabulous trio are back on the field; so there is a way out of hibernation, after all… yes, there is, only that on this brand new recording the guys sound less technical and consequently not as compelling. It’s thrash all the way, no radical stylistic alterations in sight. The approach is more orthodox, though, holding onto the modern canons as expected, but there’s an overt sniff of retro tactics here and there as well like on the short most immediate cut here, the non-fussy impetuous "Bastard". The marriage between the two currents seems to produce the most convincing results as is the case on "I Feel Myself", a lively volatile shredder which needs very little to stir a mosh session. Elsewhere such urges are not that strongly supported the heavy pounding rhythms on “Slave” winning the fan patiently for their not very flashy cause, with "Primary" playfully winking at the debut with its more intricate structure and the bouncy riffage, the culmination in this trend reached on the ironically least straight-forward composition "Straighten Up", a near-progressive exercise in complex modern thrash, the guys blending linear riff-patterns with more entangled configurations for a frequently enjoyable if not exactly outright thrilling ride.

The vocal performance remains in the shouty/semi-shouty hardcore camp, but the pleasantly mechanical musical delivery only benefits from such more belligerent antics. The band obviously spare themselves at this early stage from their second ascension: the album is just above half an hour long, and again there’s a bit left to be desired on the execution front. The dizzying choppy complexity of the debut is yet to be achieved… if this is what the musicians want to do, of course; they may have an entirely different agenda this time around. Why not even turn to classic metal purveyors for a change? Again, a couple of moments easily side with the old canons… sure thing; after all, this is one testing of the soil, a way for the guys to check if there's any way out of this dormant existence. All else will follow be it under the sound of sterile clinical riffs or spontaneous headbanging frivolities.