Punishment for Decadence

Alright. Lets get the record straight. It is near impossible to come as close to being as technical as Coroner was. They were (and still are) the most technical straight up thrash metal band ever to exist. I do not care what say about Metallica or Slayer being more technical, any band that is not Meshuggah, Atheist, or some other technical death metal band will not even come close to the technicality of Coroner, and those bands almost overdo it. Coroner wasn't all about being technical, they actually had an incredible sense of lyricism and musical theory, and are capable of making music that is more then just "double bass drum/down tuned guitar unison riffing with inaudible bass" music, but thrash metal that stands out among others as being as unique and inventive as it gets.

1988's Punishment For Decadence shows this greatly. After touring as the opening act for Sodom on the latter band's Persecution Mania tour for the better part of 1987, Coroner came off the road and back into the studio, creating one amazing album. It would be their last straight up thrash metal album, as later albums would later incorporate elements of progressive rock which don't get me wrong is just not totally the same music. The songs here are catchy and loaded with hooks, yet are outright brutal and demonstrate the band's amazing technicality. Each member of the band performs his role amazingly, the lyrics are thought provoking and even catchy at times, the solos are amazing, and the album just owns. But why am I giving it an 85? Quite simply, because of one thing, Noise Records. Noise Records, while being the label for many a metal band in the 80s simply could not offer their bands the privilege of great production on their albums. Coroner's debut R.I.P is decently produced, but Punishment, while a step forward in terms of song writing and lyricism, is a complete step back in terms of production and mastering. The production here is so bad that I have trouble distinguishing the snare drum from the cymbals. If it's that bad, then it truly deserves a nomination for worst album production ever. But the songwriting owns it, so let us being our adventure into Punishment for Decadence.

Our frontman on this album is Ron "Ron Royce" Broder. As well as singing here, Ron serves the role of playing bass on the album as well. In the playing bass department, Ron is a very rare breed. Bassists have been doubling as singers in rock and roll and metal before Coroner came around, but why is Ron so different? I mean, other guys in thrash metal are bassists and vocalists, Tom Araya being the most well known example. But you still got Marcel Schirmer of Destruction and Tom Angelripper of Sodom. What is it that Ron does different? The reason, Ron played finger style while singing. Now Tom Araya tried this and did it for a little while as well, but he found that he could not sing and do finger style at the same time. Ron does this flawlessly, and does it very well. Although here he is also a bit weak. He doesn't just do lame fills like Schirmer and Angelripper do on bass, but he follows along with the guitar all the time, and this is one of the worst things you can possibly do for a bass player. Another thing, his vocals really aren't that great. They are comparable that of a yapping chihuaha. Here they stand out more then on some other albums or songs, but it is still very annoying and next to impossible to decipher what he's saying.

The centerpiece here though is not Ron, but guitarist Tommy "Baron" Veterelli. There is a reason people called this guy The Alchemist. He is simply amazing at guitar. He is a great mix of Piggy of Voivod and James Hetfield in his rhythms, as he has very chugging palm muted riffs but he also mixes in a lot of other notes and chords that you normally do not hear in thrash metal riffs. He even does some minor shredding in some of the riffs, adding a bit of extra flavor to them. But it is in his solos that Tommy finds his niche. While most of his fellow teutonic thrash guitarists (other then him, the only really notable German thrash metal guitarist from the 1980s is Frank "Blackfire" Gosdzik of Sodom and Kreator) were tremolo picking for the most part with an occasional bit of tapping thrown in, Tommy totally shatters that notion. He does loads of tapping, alternate picking, and even some string skipping and economy picking. For a guy coming from a place without a ton of guitar virtuosos to learn from (most of Tommy's bay area contemporaries were lucky enough to learn from Joe Satriani. Tommy and other European thrash guitarists didn't exactly have that privilege) this guy is amazing. While his solos on Punishment are far from his best work, he definitely blows away all German thrash guitarists and even most American ones with his work here.

The final piece here is Markus "Marquis Markey" Edelmann. Besides this guy's very funny play on words with his nickname, this guy succeeds greatly at his roles in the band. As a drummer, Markus is amazing. This guy is not all about only using his snare drum, hi hat, and bass drums, he actually makes use of all the drums in his kit. He aslo adapts flawlessly to all the time signature changes that Ron and Tommy throw at him, so he is never out of time once. Not even a nanosecond out of time. Unfortunately, the bad production here affects Markus more then anyone else in the band. His drum tone is absolutely horrible. Other then the bass drums, it is almost impossible to make out which drum this guy is using at one time. It can be done, but it's pretty hard. Besides being a great drummer however, Markus is also an amazing lyricist. Hence why Coroner was called "The Rush of thrash metal", because like Rush percussion professor Neil Peart, Markus wrote all of Coroner's lyrics, and like Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Tommy and Ron were more into writing actual music then lyrics, so if Markus wanted to write them, they let him do it. They made a good choice. Markus's lyrics are not straightforward at all and always thought provoking. They range from mental problems to politics, and even with a hint of science fiction thrown in as well (not without incorporating the other of the two themes mentioned into the mix though). So while Markus was affected in the studio by Noise Records more then his bandmates her, he is perfect for the band, as both a drummer and a lyricist, even if his drum tone was messed up and Ron semi butchers his lyrics.

Now lets get into the music behind this amazing album.

We start off with what sounds like a bunch of machinery and then the sound of someone falling off a cliff and screaming for the intro. Ok a lot of albums have stuff like this, so I'll live with it. But that is a thing that makes this album unique, is that a lot of songs incorporate heavy sampling. Not to an extent that keyboards are part of the entire sound of the band, but it provides some nice fills and sounds very very nice and fitting for the band.

After the twelve second intro, the album just bursts out of the gate and brings on Absorbed. The song opens up with Tommy's signature riffing and some rapid double bass pedal use from Markus, then changes time as Ron continues to lay down the underlying bass (which you can actually hear decently) and Tommy riffs. Ron then comes in with his yappy chihuaha voice to sing Mark's lyrics. I'm not quite sure what they are about, but they appear to be about some guy who was either abused or watched someone get killed and is trying to move on and forget about it, but it drive him insane in the process. Tommy does a solo before the first chorus that just blows your mind. It is truly amazing. Then after the chorus, he does another one that tops the first! Ron actually projects his voice in the choruses pretty nicely, but for the most part his voice just does the lyrics absolutely no justice at all. As does the production and mastering, but otherwise it's pretty good.

Next we have the album's centerpiece, and the song most thrash metal fans know Coroner for. If you guessed Masked Jackal, you are correct! This song is just amazing, from Tommy's great riffs and Mark's rapid double bass usage it's just awesome. Tommy does some awesome tapping solos here, and also some nice economy picking in the beginning. It's also probably the only time I have heard the guy tremolo pick, but he just does it as a lead fill and how he does it sound pretty nice, so I'll discount it. He also overlays his guitar tone at one point, so you hear a distorted chord and then we hear clean part with it. It also contains some sampling, in the form of a speech and some audience applause. But not only musically does the song succeed, it is amazing lyrically. This song is about a dictator coming to power and how he does it, but about some guy seeing through it and thinking about it. It sounds something like Megadeth, but rather from the antagonists or protagonist's point of view, it simply comes from another character who just notices what is going on. Now many will think this stupid, but when you listen to it and the way Markus wrote the lyrics, it sounds perfect. The song is also loaded with hooks that entice you to listen more, and it just is an amazing track. One that shows Coroner's skill flawlessly.

Next we have the instrumental Arc Lite, which is sort of like Coroner's equivalent to YYZ by Rush. This is where Ron and Markus are like "Ok Tommy we'll back you up just go all out we don't care" and it just works. The song (more like guitar solo) opens up with a rapid drum roll with the tom drums (one of few the times you can tell Markus uses them) and then goes into a very catchy riff that just gets you hooked on it. Now that you are into the song, it's like hook, line and sinker. You are just won over by the piece. It must be heard to be believed, for Tommy is just amazing. This is where he blows most of his contemporaries clean away. He just completely destroys everything that had came before him. Few in thrash metal could compete with this guy, and only probably Americans can, because no German thrash metal guitarist, not even Frank, has ever done what Tommy has done on Arc Lite. His work is loads of economy picking, string skipping, alternative picking, and tapping, mixing classical and jazz together with a hint of exotic spices to make it just sound amazing. You can also hear Ron's bass on this track pretty nicely, but it needs to be listened closely if you want to hear it with any real definition. All in all, a great instrumental shred-a-thon that is not one bit out of place on this album.

Next we get into Skeleton On Your Shoulder. You think this song will be a power ballad when you first hear it, with it's acoustic guitar and use of choir sampling in the beginning, but then it goes into this downright haunting guitar riff from Tommy backed up by bass from Ron and more creepy drumming from Markus. It then starts off in kind of a groove metal like riff, but then gets into a tight palm muted riff with some fits of shredding thrown in and then bursts out into all out thrash metal mayhem. Then when it gets into the verses, you hear Tommy using a flanger in the riffs, overlapped by distored guitar riffs that just sounds great and not in any way sounding like cheating. Markus is constantly adapting to the off the wall time changes, having no problem doing such and making it sound. Tommy does some really nice solo work, with some nice use of sweep tapping, normal tapping, and string skipping to make for a very radical solo. The lyrics here are quite eccentric and hard to decipher, but that means you can interpret them from multiple viewpoints, which is something I enjoy quite a bit and something that is hard to come by in modern metal. There is no real clear idea of what they mean, but I interpreted them as a song about drug use, probably LSD. This can be seen well in the lines "If you wish to see a totally different view, come into my deadly arms feel the green mist cover you", the line "We'll drift through the universe, no more responsibility. High above the clouds far from reality". But not only the experience of being high, but also the dangers of the drug, which can be seen in the line "I taste as sweet as honey but I'm dangerous like a snake", saying that while the drug is addictive and gives the user a thrill, it's killing him inside. A great and highly inventive song that finds a nice place on the album.

Sudden Fall is all about hooks. Everything about this song is an attention getter. It starts off with Tommy playing this burst like riff that goes from high to low and back again a few times. Then it goes into another mid/fast paced groove like tempo but then changes into a semi palm muted riff that changes once the verses come in. Throughout the verses and spots in between them, Markus is providing rapid and thundering double bass, and the fills in between the verses and chorus are downright catchy. A slower riff is used in the choruses, then you hear some clean guitar and minor ambient keyboard usage before Tommy goes into yet another solo mainly compromised of alternate picking and a little tapping, sort of like Kirk Hammett. Then it goes back into the refrain, then into a small passage by Ron, the riff is then played a bit more. It then goes back into playing the first and second verse together, then it plays the chorus until it fades, Tommy playing a solo while Rons sings the chorus. This song is about mines, from the perspective of workers working in them. It's quite interesting to listen to, as it seems the owner of the mine that Markus is describing is being asked if he sees what's going on in his mine and how bad his workers are being treated. Pretty thought provoking, don't you think?

Shadow Of A Lost Dream opens with a palm muted riff that starts with typical thrash metal sounding opening but then goes into a real semi groove yet progressive affair that is still very thrash metal. It goes into a lot of of changes in time and key before going into the verses. This song is about an odd thing in thrash metal, relationships. This has been done in the genre by bands like Megadeth, but Coroner does it differently. The relationship here is about a girl who's boyfriend cheated on her and how she hates him for it, and the lyrics, they are almost like they came from an emo band! But because it's Coroner playing this song, and they are so instrumentally talented and Tommy is here to play solos, this song is still pretty nice. However, Shadow Of A Lost Dream is definitely the worst song on the album, but if you want to hear some nice sweeping by Tommy then it's worth listening to.

The New Breed is another hooker. The riff is very catchy sounding and gets you hooked on it and wanting to hear more. It goes on at a slow tempo that builds up into a relatively fast one, then there is a break before Ron heads on into singing in his yappy chihuaha voice. But Tommy's verse riff is incredibly inventive, and Marky does some more double bass rolls and incredibly technical drumming. Even more interesting, is during the fill in between the first verse and first chorus, you hear this weird voice that sounds like it is coming form. Tommy does a really nice mix of string skipping, sweeping, and tapping to make for a very sick solo in the song that just rules, and his riffs continue to make your head spin with what he incorporates into them. The words of the song have to do with the war in Afghanistan at the time", which can be interpretted in "Proud to die for faithFanatic, Agitators, Deceive" and the generation of children that were born during the war that continue to witness war in and terror in the country to this day. Once again, Markus manages to make me ponder things with his lyrics, and that's good because these days it's hard for my brain to get a workout by listening to anything played on MTV or the radio. At least I got Coroner to make me think.

Next up we have Voyage Into Eternity. This song sounds more like power/speed metal then thrash, a lot like something Iced Earth would put out, at least when you hear it at first. This is a great way to hook you onto the song, because then it goes into all out thrash fury, with Markus double bassing in the riffs and Tommy playing very speedy and plenty of shreddy riffs thrown in to make it just sound. The whole time Ron is singing lyrics about a space flight gone wrong and a spacecraft being hurled into space with no life support for it's pilot. This is the science fiction part of Punishment for Decadence, and it's a great song to listen to while having a somewhat lacking lyrical department that does not provoke my thoughts as much as other songs do. Tommy does loads of alternative picking, tapping, and sweeping to make the song sound just plain awesome to listen to. The song also features some sampling in the form of a rocket engine in the middle of the song after Tommy's solo. Markus is punishing the whole time with his drums, and this piece is just amazing.

As if all what came before this is not enough, we now get a special surprise. A Jimi Hendrix cover! Not only that, but they cover Purple Haze! Talk about out there. I mean thrash metal bands covering Hendrix, that's a bit odd, and I never thought I'd ever find it. But Coroner takes the idea and executes it without any flaws. Tommy takes the song and just shreds up while retaining a mix of thrash and Jimi Hendrix Experience like feel to it, and Ron and Markus fill in Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell pretty nicely, although lets face it Ron can't sing Hendrix for his life. But it's pretty nice to listen to, and it's worth the time it takes to listen to it. A great and fun song by an otherwise dark band.

Other then the horrendous mastering and production, Punishment For Decadence is a great album. It is one worht listening to, and if you want no compromises in the technicality and musicianship of your thrash, then it is well worth buying.