Reality

And our skateboard (non)fanatics here are definitely not one of them. Still, lunatics with or without skateboards, it’s always worth delving into the insane phenomena around the world even if the latter exhibit murderous tendencies. And our heroes here came close to that with the hyper-active, super-intense debut, a violent speed/thrashing melee which matched Rigor Mortis’ seminal debut from the year before every bit of the way.

The guys got incarcerated for rowdy unruly behaviour in their homeland, and when they were given another mandate on the scene, the musical environment had changed almost beyond recognition. A tribute to the ruling aggro/groovy sounds didn’t make sense whatsoever as a team from the visionary, full of surprises Dutch scene couldn’t possibly settle for mere B&B (banality and boredom); they had to find the finest, most luxurious hotel in town, and throw their anchor there.

In that and in any other case at the time for that matter it meant trying something outside-the-box, with a not very insistent post-thrash flavour in the worst case scenario, and since the guys had good examples of capable “beyond thrash” skin shedding (Sacrosanct, Paralysis, Donor, Genetic Wisdom) from their homeland, they didn’t have to waste too much time picking a lofty model to follow. Well, you can’t expect lunatics to be very loyal followers to anything but their own crooked minds, and the album reviewed here nicely restates this postulate as this is a quirky progressive thrash/post-thrash recording, a classic/modern vacillation, which is sustained in a consistent mid-tempo save for two ruder outbursts (the sudden fittingly-titled explosion “Aggression”, and the short closing energizer “Crossroads”). Those two cuts may as well get lost among the sea of complex engaging rifforamas which exude both authority and originality on the bouncy stomper “Hitchhiking Disease” and the atmospheric melodic title-track. Nods at the groovy models (the blase filler “Fucked Up”) and lyrical melancholic deviations (the soporific ballad “Just a Friend”) might be frowned upon, but when the band find their stride in the second half they seldom put a foot wrong with the lively power/thrasher “For Nature”, the excellent prog-thrash shredder “Call it Suicide”, a sure qualifier for Heathen’s “Victims of Deception”; the creepy semi-technical pounder “Is Life Death”, and last but not least the epic heavy semi-balladic/thrashy/post-thrashy saga “Livin' with the System” where even some keyboards spring up to enhance the poignant setting.

A definite plus in the band’s resume are the cool clean semi-attached vocals which already did a pretty decent job on the more aggressive debut. Here they emit more pathos for sure, but there’s always this seeping vigour that materializes as either forceful semi-shouts or semi-recitals, the man also acquitting himself with a nice emotional croon on the mentioned ballad. A convincing transformational package that didn’t radically tweak the reality at the time, but showed another 80’s practitioner that wasn’t willing to obey the prevalent vogues with a ground-level bowed head, but was determined to stand its ground and realize its advanced visions with a few constructive compromises.

I doubt if the guys got imprisoned again this time for disrupting the world order; the time spent in the asylum had produced its effect… and it’s always time well spent there and elsewhere if you come out more mature, wiser, sober and with a better grasp of this mouldy, transient reality of ours.