Beyond Cops. Beyond God.

You know, as bad as this album is, it’s definitely an improvement over their debut, as many people seem to think. Then again, considering what we had to deal with on that album, I guess a lot of things would’ve been an improvement over it. And yes, I will compare the two albums. Anyway, let’s give this one a closer look.

I’ll start with the guitars. On the debut, they sounded way too thin and the riffs sounded random at best. Here? For a change, the guitars kind of sound like death metal guitars and you can hear actual riffs; they’re generic at best, no doubt about it, but I guess anything is better than what we had to hear before by this band. As for the drums, they at least sound like drums and not like trash cans with ping pong balls inside; also, the drummer doesn’t tire as fast as he used to. The bass still cannot be heard, however. Seriously, has that been some kind of a trend in the last two decades or so? Eh, whatever. Breakdowns are, for a change, not abused and are slightly less stupid than before; they even fit in a few places, believe it or not.

Even the vocals became much better, although they’re still not good. The pig squeals from the debut are unfortunately still present, but the good thing is that they’re heavily downplayed; the result is a little less irritation for the listener. This time, the focus is on actual growls. They’re not the worst I’ve heard, not even in deathcore and slamming death metal, but they are pretty unconvincing nonetheless. Also, there are no unintentional chuckles to be provided. Or maybe I don’t find such stuff funny anymore, who knows.

The lyrical focus is no longer on misogyny. On the other hand, we have to deal with generic violence that was done better and more convincingly by other bands, for instance, Dying Fetus. Also, remember those pointless samples from the debut? Well, you can sigh in relief, for they are not present here. So, yeah, this band learned a thing or two in between the two albums.

In the end, though, would I recommend this album to anyone? No. Long story short, this album is not worth your time. If nothing else, this album is just way too boring and generic, hence, pointless, you’re not missing out. No need to check it out unless you just cannot control your curiosity no matter what. Well, it does get some points, I’ll give it that.