I Choose My Own

The classic thrash metal heroes were falling one by one during the early/mid-90’s in a tough tussle with the ruling groovy, grunge and alternative forces, seldom holding the fortress for more than an isolated full-length. Except for Depressive Age, neither of the progressive/technical thrash metal practitioners from Germany managed to survive beyond the odd sophomore effort. The same went for Holland, another country in Europe (Russia included) that was successful in developing a wholesome technical metal scene during those gruesome times. Pestilence were first, of course, before they chose the death metal path to follow, but the seeds were planted, and it didn’t take a long time for them to extend in other, multifarious branches: Mandator, Usurper, Mystrez, Donor, Sacrosanct (founded by the former Pestilence guitarist Randy Meinhard), Vulture, Rhadamanthys, Osiris, Voices, Altered Moves Two, Decision D, Paralysis, Stretta, Spiralsea, the Sacrosanct “offspring” Genetic Wisdom, etc.

By 1995, the worst year for classic metal, all those acts were history and, excluding Decision D’s masterful swansong “The Last Prostitute”, the Dutch metal scene had completely lost its technical flavour. Few were the brave to dare break the aggro-thrash/post-thrash hegemony at the time by releasing something classic and techno-thrashtastic. Then appeared this forgotten tale:

Chapter I: once upon a time, some time in the late-80’s to be precise, there was a small act called Speedica from the deep Dutch countryside who tried to justify their name by playing loud and fast with not much sophistication. A string of demos released in a quick succession didn’t help them reach the front echelon, and the band folded. Three years later they re-appeared “twisted” into another “form” and name, Form.

Chapter II: no one cared about the Speedica output back then, and the few fans who got tempted to try out their repertoire must have been attracted by the Metallica-sque moniker: “Metallica, Speedica… all goes into one place.” In 1995, the year of the Metal Plague, it must have been considered heresy for something like Form’s debut album to occur. Well, the defiant Thrashin’ Dutchmen did a great job to stir the dormant underground with this excellent progressive/technical thrash opus bringing sweet memories of times not long gone…

This is so refreshingly old school that the listener may double-check whether this album had indeed been recorded at that time. At the same time it hardly holds on to the heritage from its motherland, but looks away and finds its inspiration in a compelling blend between Artillery’s "By Inheritance”, Paradox’s “Heresy”, and Heathen’s “Victim of Deception”. Some may dismiss me as a mere dreamer, or rather an amateur, after “Multiply Me” which is probably not the best way to start this album being a dramatic pounder without any technical flourishes. “Form Example”, however, would be a rude awakening with its wild fast-paced, clever shredding which will also recall the Swedish one-album-wonder Midas Touch; and please, pay attention to those great melodic leads. “Several Ways” chooses “several ways” to entertain the listener, first by a nice balladic intro, later by a cavalcade of sharp technical riffs, and finally by a cool dramatic accumulation of stomping volcanic guitars. “Beg” is the mid-break, nothing too exceptional here, just heavy rhythms with a proto-groovy flair.

Still, the actual niceties are yet to come: the brilliant “In Honour of…”, an immaculate technicaller with some of the fastest sections on the album, not to mention the gorgeous leads again; the doomy mid-pacer “Sheltering” which suddenly switches onto full-ahead headbanging thrash; the 7.5-min opus “Unwilling” which “unwillingly” pulls you in with a wide gamut of time and tempo-changes, the mid-passage a prime excerpt from the technical headbanging textbook, the rest of the time spent in cool dramatic mid-paced shreds. And last but not least “Prescription”, the closer, a grand progressive thrashterpiece with manic riffs evolving around spiraling mid-tempo arrangements the immaculate rifforama enhanced by a nice memorable chorus.

Mentioning the choruses, one can’t write a review about this album without mentioning Hans Reinders, the singer, a true vocal talent who emits passion and emotion in spades by also providing a gruffer, semi-clean tone at times to match the hard-hitting music. His high-strung tirades are a wonder to listen to, and the man should stand proud beside pillars like Eric A.K. (Flotsam & Jetsam), Ski (Deadly Blessing), and Ralf Scheepers (Gamma Ray) although he’s lower-pitched, but by all means as equally impressive as everyone of them. He already did a fairly good job on the Speedica demos, but the rough production on those kind of hampered his exploits. The other hero from the combo is Alain Chernouh, an ex-guitarist of the Belgian technical thrash/death metal wizards Chemical Breath. His virtuoso performance elevates this effort to some of the finest works from the Dutch metal scene during the 90’s, and he’s also responsible for the gorgeous leads the latter already heard on the Chemical Breath albums.

Alas, those two main assets were both gone for the follow-up “Shock Corridor” which appeared five years later. Thrash metal had already started to wake up for another indefinite spell with the music industry, but those who remained in the band had taken the controversial decision to “twist” their repertoire into an already obsolete for the time groovy post-thrashy “form”. There was almost nothing from this belated effort to relate it to the much better debut and likewise it failed to generate any amount of interest from the fanbase who were already looking back at the 80’s heritage with regards of what was going around. Actually, Chernouh had stepped aside to make room for his former colleague from Chemical Breath, Rene Rokx, another Belgian axeman. Unfortunately, the less demanding musical delivery this time around made Rokx a pale copy of himself the man joining the bland groovy melee without sticking too much. Yes, a “shock” indeed, but more of a “corner” rather than a whole “corridor”…

The stylistic shift also prompted a name change and the band paraded for a while as Fifth with a solitary demo released in 2002 with an approach closer to the up-and-coming classic trends. Two years later they re-emerged as Engine of Pain and had a more lasting success with one full-length, two EP’s, and a couple of demos released, with their career put to an end by 2008 for the umpteenth time which was a pity since the music was quite a decent modern/retro thrash blend. However, of all their “wanderings” around the metal circuit, the album reviewed here remains their crowning achievement. It didn’t quite shatter the foundations of the ruling aggro/groove/industrial “dictatorship”, but at least it left a small smouldering patch of ashes, and it was out of ashes like these that classic thrash built the base for its glorious return a few years later.