Alright, now this is what I like to see: The second record from this German act is a vast improvement over their debut. It's still got some problems, but the core of the record is a hell of a lot better. Whereas their last record was based around death metal with a lot of quirky nuances and wide ranging influences kicking in, these songs are far more consistent and focused. I'd say that this time out raging late-80's styled thrash is dominant, with a lot of classic death metal blended in there. The vocals are generally moderately low growls with some more aggressive sneers at times, and the music never gets either too slow or too fast, it's right there in the middle and sticks to pretty energetic tempos with lots of straightforward thrash picking patterns, a few melodic leads and some slower passages, and some staple death metal runs. I love the fact that the songs are shorter and more harnessed too, because it really keeps things moving. "Erde Ruft" is the only longer, slower song that throws in a lot of plodding dissonant chords and more of an emphasis on rhythm - not bad. I don't know what they were thinking with the title to "Zombie Carrots Gone Berzerk", though!? And "Mostly Harmless" is a really short sort of interlude that's a waste if you ask me. There's a really goofy track hidden at the end of the disc with some weird programmed drums and samples and stuff, I don't know what's up with that either. But really the key problem that I have here is the snare sound. Most of the recording is quite nice, I like the guitar tone a lot, the bass is well defined and has a presence, the kick drums sound good and most of the percussion is in line, the vocals rarely inch too far out front... and then there's that snare. It's clearly triggered, and it has no resonance whatsoever, just a thin, quick snap that makes a lot of the faster beats/rolls sound really awkward. It's not always a huge distraction, but it sounds awful compared to everything else and really can cause problems because of its prominence in the center of the mix. The layout is 50/50, but by all means it is a vast improvement over what their last record looked like. What I dislike are the collages of religious paintings with skull/gasmask faces and maggots and such, just because the collages don't fit and aren't that great. However, the very subtle dark gray on black images are fucking awesome - very tasteful and interesting against the band logo and other textures. Lyrically it's pretty standard content dealing with violence, pain, and all that. They still have some growing to do, but this is a huge improvement, and I'll be extremely curious to hear their next record if they continue to mature like this.
[self-released]
Running time - 29:45, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: Invocation, Black Song, 7th Plague]
Zeroed - http://www.zeroed.net
