Kin

This is exactly what happened with this recording. It left us ‘waiting’ for more. Do you want to know why? Quite simple: they followed the same vein of the Black Album. Not that this is a bad thing but unfortunately this is an uninteresting album. No interesting riffs, no power, no slashing solos. It is indeed friendly, radio oriented, easy to digest. Again, this is not a bad thing but when you compare it to ‘For Whose Advantage’? My friends, I get a little disappointed.

The songs range between mid to slow tempo pace. There are practically no fast songs (thrash influenced I mean). The solos are not as good as in FWA? They are most rhythm solos. The vocal lines I’d say are better. Chris is now really singing better using more texture in his voice. Oh, and forget exquisite tempo changes from past albums. The riffing parts are very similar to those from Metallica in the Black Album. Simpler, catchier, based on simple chords which lack the power and thrash from Sodom, Kreator, Seventh Angel, etc.

Take for instance: ‘All bleed red’. This is a mid tempo songs with a little faster drumming. However, it definitely lacks kicking ass power. Again, this is not a bad thing per se. If you want to listen to more technical and skilled heavy metal music, this is a good album, commercial influenced. But if you are expecting to move your head along with fast thrash, you will be scratching your head listening to this. Due to the heavy metal decadence in the beginning of the 90’s, I can perfectly understand what they were trying to do, but something went wrong and this albums simply does not fit into this bigger markets.

‘No More Time’ is a ballad. Yes a ballad in a thrash album and when ‘The Ballad’ from Testament is quite good this one has a lot of keyboards, softness, not a good solo. What were they thinking? Were they trying to emulate ‘The Unforgiven’? Who knows, but the song is, in the end, boring.

I will not detail into the rest of the songs since there sin, and you will notice it, is that they sound very similar and they provoke the feeling that you have been listening the same thing over and over. There are, in the special digipak edition, some bonus tracks, and believe it or not, these songs are faster, more powerful, and far better than those from the album, with the exception of the demos, but if you listen to Reward, that my friends, is the kind of song I would like to have at least 7 times of this album. That is what the band was originally known for. The sound mix, although good by the end of 80’s is not the problem here, is the production overall. Don’t get me wrong, I like the album since I am a fan of diversity and evolution, so, when I don’t want to listen to speedy thrash this is a good album to pick up and I actually enjoy it a lot, but if you expect Kreator, Sodom, Seventh Angel or even Toxic, this would be the wrong choice