Lobotomized

This squadron featured two ex-Artillerists, namely the Stutzer brothers (the guitarists Michael & Morten) who gave up the classic thrash flag after an excellent demo (“The Mind Factory”, 1992) and decided to try something new away from their main band’s catalogue. It’s an interesting fact that at the beginning of this enterprise the brothers were jamming with two members of the short-lived death metal outfit Mental Decay… were they looking to upgrade their style to the more brutal deathy parametres?

Even if they were, they must have scrapped the idea shortly after as on the debut there were no traces of death metal whatsoever; this was a mildly entertaining brand of standard power/proto-thrash which was clearly a transitional decision as the old school canons were on the verge of violation on it; and certainly not as technically proficient. So it was far from anything Artillery had produced, but at the same time wasn’t exactly a venerable acknowledgement of the already established numetal laws, and did exude a biting edge to keep at least a fraction of the Artillery fanbase around.

On the sophomore the brothers brace themselves to be lobotomized once more, but again this isn’t a total surrender to the groovy/aggro vogues; in fact, the album holds its own without shining too much with the first half raising a couple of eyebrows with a more dynamic delivery, reminding of the last few at the time Metal Church albums, with the vocalist René Struch possessing a comparable, if not as emotional and expressive, to Mike How timbre. The welcoming energetic vibe of the title-track pairs well with the more serious, more thrash-fixated rhythms of “House of Fear” and the bouncy heaviness of “Furious”, this parade creating a sizzling festive atmosphere the latter untimely detonated by “Timebomb”, a morose semi-balladic progressiver which influences the material from the second half with both the doom-laden “Troublemakers Benefit” and the lyrical balladic strolls “Devil or God” and “Time to Say Goodbye” exhibiting very similar slow-motion sentiments. The instilled pensive setting gets carved by bouts of rowdy dynamics (“Persistance of Desire“, “The River's Edge”) but it’s clear that the band’s agenda is to not turn this offering into a wild headbanging fiesta…

and this isn’t one, by a long shot at that, although the beginning does create the illusion that something along those lines could get stirred eventually… and the mentioned “Timebomb” could have been considered a highlight even if it didn’t literally kill the inertia, instigating a downbeat revolution. It’s a lop-sided recording this one, one that surely has its ups among which are the avoidance of the groovy traps and the still lurking desire on the side of the band to be a part of a more individualistic string. The thing is that, having in mind that you’ve been responsible for landmark works like “Terror Squad” and “By Inheritance”, it’s hard for the audience to readily swallow your new guise and accept it as a fitting metamorphosis provided that this new path is more simplistic and less skill-consuming. Fair play to the brothers for willing to pursue another stylistic direction without compromising too much, but more was expected from tech-thrash gurus of the kind, even during transformational times like the 90’s.

But yeah, a missing link it was, this batch’s repertoire; the missing link between the classic metal parade and the groovy post-thrash cannonade… a decent go-between position which wasn’t meant to last very long, obviously, as the end of the decade started calling for reminiscences and nostalgic looks back at the 80’s heritage. And before you know it, Artillery were B.A.C.K. in the field, armed with canons and other fodder, one of the earliest reunion stints which wasn’t that back… sorry, bad. The brothers have been marching assuredly in the new millennium, very seldom nodding at their 90’s flirtation… well, it was a missing link after all; and it served its purpose back then. We don’t need to be constantly reminded of it. Right?