Master of Pain

Austrian metal has never been a widely advertised commodity, and if one doesn’t go delving deep inside that scene’s underground, he/she will never become familiar with the gifted outfits from there one of whom is the band under scrutiny here who had an earlier spell with the music industry under the name Mortician having started in the distant 1983 with a potent heavy/power metal sound before changing their moniker to Tyran Virgin, both spells amounting to a couple of demos and an EP. Then came the collaboration as Psycho Holiday where the delivery became more modern and groovier, but again this was just a one demo stint.

In this particular case we have a blend of power and thrash that clings between the modern and the old school side which on the debut full-length was a venerable nod to the achievements of the US scene of the 80’s, mixing Bay-Area impetuousity with epic power metal arrangements.

The album reviewed here leaves out the modern touches and focuses on a retro power/thrash mixture reminiscent of the first two Overkill efforts, also recalling other heroes from the American underground like Meliah Rage and Carbide. “Face to Face” opens the album with dynamic brooding riffs and nice bass implements, a solid mid-paced number which gives way to “Prisoners of Hate”, another seismic chugger with a couple of livelier faster-paced moments. The title-track raises the lathe higher being a smashing headbanger, but “Time to Pay” is the remedy against the headache caused by this rager with its mellower mid-tempo rhythms. “Now Is Not Forever” is an excellent more dramatic progressive proposition recalling “From the Dust of Ages” from Scanner’s “Terminal Earth”, and “Another Lie” is crushing steam-rolling power/thrash of the more dynamic variety, “Follow Me” following a similar pattern only a tad slower and with more officious, less overpowering riffage. Power metal takes over at the end for “Burn”, an epic hymn ala mid-period Metal Church, and for “Braveheart” which develops in an academic epic manner before a surprising speed/thrashing stroke changes the perceptions for a brief moment.

A really cool tribute to the scene from the other side of the Atlantic produced in the least expected place; the Austrian scene has had the reputation for the spawning of less ordinary autocratic acts (Disharmonic Orchestra, Pungent Stench, Visceral Evisceration, Korova, etc.), but it doesn’t hurt at all to hear something more conventional and more spontaneously old school from this still not very well traversed for metal land. The lads have no intentions on changing the winning formula as evident from the follow-up to the album here and the “Powertrip” EP; the US brotherhood should pack all their troubles as their legacy is carried by a bunch of loyal advocates from the Old Continent who will stop at nothing to ensure its ongoing lofty status.