Perfection in Pain

By 2002 yours truly was a junior stockbroker with just enough disposable income to lap up just about anything the metal world could throw at him. And lo and behold, Earache was flogging off some new thrash/melodic death metal from some young Swedish band called Corporation 187. Oh and the producer is the mighty Peter Tagtgren.

Sounds like a winner and definitely worthy of spending my hard earned dollars on, doesn't it? Well not really. In fact this isn't even good in a generic kind of way.

What one gets is some extremely mediocre The Haunted worship. It is punchy and fast but completely unremarkable. The guitars and drums ramble on through the motions playing exactly what you expect a Swedish melodic death metal/thrash band to play. There is also some pointless uninspired guitar lead bits too, because you have to have them as well.

The vocals are harsh screaming typical of the style pioneered by At The Gates' Tomas Linberg, albeit typically generic and lacking in any uniqueness.

The only that might prove to be amusing are the lyrics. Sure a lot of them are standard rubbish about "life being pain," which was common enough in Swedish metal of the time. But some are truly ridiculous in a bad way. For example "Ghosts Of Confusion" waffles on about corrupt politicians filled with seed, turning into a penguin and evil airlines. "Liquid Truth" sings about staining someone's face with liquid truth.

Either something was lost in translation or these boys need to sign into rehab.

The production is acceptable for its era. Not too polished and not too raw. It certainly isn't what you expect from one Mr Tagtgren. So do yourself a favour and avoid this one if you ever see it in some bargain discount pile unless you need a spare CD case and a new coaster.