This band was a thrash metal band from Switzerland which was disbanded somewhere in the mid 90's, and this is considered to be one of their most successful albums. The album is called ¨Mental Vortex¨ and it contains alot of great shredds, heavy drumming, awesome lead-guitar work but the bass is not so hearable unfortunatly. This kind of thrash is quite easy-digested, the band plays heavy and catchy and there is no high-speed drumming, the vocals is harsh semi-growls and no skilled harmony stuff. The band members was a trio and the members was:
Ron Broder - vocals and bass
Tommy Vetterli - guitars (also member of Kreator)
Marky Edelmann - drums (also member of Apollyon Sun)
THE CREW
We start with the vocalist and bassplayer Ron Broder, a good bassist and average singer. His bass is not to much to mention, he keeps up very good with the rest of the band, there are hardly no flaws in his bass lines and the bass is quite clear on some of the tracks. And now to his vocals, these vocals is more directed towards the extreme field of metal. The vocals are harsh, aggressive and somewhat growling but not much, I think that the vocals on this album really rocks and suits very well with their music style.
Tommy Vetterli is great with his guitarplaying, the riffs are very technical and variated, the rhythm sections are catchy as he** and the lead work is solid. Tommy has also played in the extreme thrash metal band ¨Kreator¨ from Germany so this guy has quite much under his belt if I say so. A great guitar player who does a great job in this album!
And the last member is Marky on the drums, not much to mention about him. He does a good job with heavy beats and catchy drum patterns. If you like thrash metal in the same field as ¨Megadeth¨ or ¨Overkill¨ and those type of bands that don't use these forever pounding drums this would be something for you.
THE SONGS
The album starts with this heavy-hitting powersong ¨Devine Step (Conspectu Mortis)¨, this song hooked me at once when I heard it. The song is highly addictive, the song almost have it all, fast and technical/complex shredds, different drum patterns both fast and slow. It slows down after a while and becomes very calm, it returns later in another structure but the riffing and drumming is pretty much the same. A quite good guitar solo is also played in the middle of the song and the solo is quite long. ¨Son Of Lilth¨ starts with a heavy and cruel riff but the song transforms later to a medium paced thrash-assaulting song. The vocals reminds of black-metal musicians here but not much, the song has alot of triplet-shredding and an excellent guitar solo, melodic and long. ¨Semtex Revolution¨ enters with more solid thrash riffing which becomes more advanced after a while, the song is slow and if you want to head bang this is a good opportunity, but the drums cuold have been a bit faster though. ¨Sirens¨ is a faster and thrashier song but that is just in the intro, the song reminds a bit of ¨Semtex Revolution¨ but in a different shape.
I had to make a gap so you won't get lost in this mess of text and the review looks better like this, we continue with ¨Metamorphosis¨ the has this spooky noises in the intro, the song has alot of distortion in its guitars and the riffing is similar to what I already have described. But the shredding is still catchy and you feel that you must do some headbanging, the song is in a medium pace but it is really heavy. ¨Pale Sister¨ is one of the songs that I don't find as good as the other songs, the structure feels wierd and the riffing is not the same as the other riffs, no this song is not a highlight if you ask me. ¨About Life¨ starts off fast with very advanced riffing along with fast drumming, I would say that this is the only song that has a fast pace, the song is quite catchy but it sound pretty much the same as the previous songs. And now to the last song ¨I Want You (She's So Heavy)¨, not so much to mention about this song. It don't grabs my interest as good as the other tracks but it is quite alright.
FINAL JUDGEMENT
This was not what I expected, I thought that this was giong to be a more extreme directed band but this suited me perfect. I liked almost everything, the guitars, drums and vocals. The pace was very good also, it was easy to listen through the songs and almost all songs were catchy in some way. I will definitely recommend this to thrash metal fans, I think that this album would suit most thrashers and maybe death metal people. I hoped that you took your time to review this and if you have any thoughts about the music or the review so please send me your comments.
PROS
+ If you like evil and harsh vocals you should check out this album
+ Awesome guitar work from Tommy
+ The tempo in the songs is very good
+ The shredds/riffs are heavy and strong plus that they are very catchy
+ You want to listen to this album more than once
CONS
- The tempo was good but it could've been some more speed
RECOMMENDED TRACKS
-- Devine Step
-- Semtex Revolution
-- Metamorphosis
So there you ahve it and the overall album rating will be: 4/5
