...Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust...

“...Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust...”; the title of the effort reviewed here sounded more like an epitaph than a new beginning which it factually turned out to be… after two excellent complex progressive tributes to the classic thrash roster the band had decided to shift gears towards the trendier, also angrier and noisier, modern quasi-industrial thrash movement, and one shouldn’t blame them regardless of how unexpected this may have been for the fanbase.

Or maybe not so much, if you think of it, as everyone else was doing the industrial/groovy twist at the time, some of the guys’ compatriots (Holocausto) taking things to the deplorable extremes, sounding even truer to these new sounds than their creators themselves. Well, whatever one can do to adapt to the volatile environment of the 90’s, but at least on this nearly half an hour-long EP here the compromises with the band’s roots are not very big at all as there are enough headbanging tunes to keep the old audience happy. The main differences are the more sterile, more mechanical edge of the guitars and the slightly synthesized deathy vocals the latter sounding even more sinister and intimidating than before with this new tool applied, coming close at times to the forceful semi-shouts of Max Cavalera.

As a result we have one of the more successful adaptation works from these turbulent times, “Cross Child” crossing Ministry’s thinly disguised thrash with more aggressive old school accumulations, the symbiosis working its magic not without the help of a couple of stylish screamy leads. Dark brooding rhythms permeate the stomping “Escape to the Arms of Lord”, a nice updated analogue to the band’s signature style, before “Disaster” drowns everything in sorrow and depression being a nearly 7-min abrasive doomster with echoes of Mindrot and Soulstorm. Dissipation of those dark thickening “clouds” is mandatory if the guys want to keep the audience around, and here comes the galloping roller-coaster “Blind” to stir the mosh with sterile, but lively energetic riffs, another cool reminder of the band’s earlier exploits. The old fanbase will invariably stay hooked, and definitely not hungry, on “Naked Lunch”, a nice diverse thrasher with strong echoes of Sepultura’s “Arise”, a connection with their renowned compatriots also established with the short bursting headbanger “Hate”. Those who hoped to hear some full-fledged industrial will eventually have their fun on the bonus track “99 Dead (Wonderland)”, a creepy vociferous mechanizer ala Ministry again and Swamp Terrorists, with pounding hypnotic walkabouts reminiscent of the mentioned Americans’ hit “New World Order” from “Psalm 69”.

Whether the mist thickened or was dissipated after this instalment is to anyone’s personal preference. To these ears the metamorphosis works on all counts seeing the band making a bold step towards the in-vogue currents without harshly delineating their followers. One may mourn the reduction of the progressive/technical formulas that were a vital ingredient on the first two opuses, but even in its more simplified form the guys’ delivery by all means has its charm, sitting comfortably between the two movements, ready to swing in whichever direction would be deemed the more marketable.

The swing they made with “Gottverlassen” two years later was not exactly fatal, but the bland groovy numetal charade they settled for on it was too painful to listen to. The several boisterous attempts at emulating Pantera and Machine Head, respectively mid-90’s Sepultura as well, were drowned in a pleiad of confusing influences from where the hell, the final result a bizarre, but ultimately incoherent and sloppily assembled amalgam. And that was it, the end of the road for this interesting batch. Yes, the impenetrable mists of Belo Horizonte had taken their toll; it’s easy for one to lose his/her way there... as you can see, the band haven’t been able to get out yet, in both the real and the phantasmagorical world.