The title 'Prepare for Self-Destruction' sounds like this album could be a good choice for those beer-filled nights. While the band probably meant something else with that, the album actually does offer some okay times.

The band played quite varying old school death metal here. Right from the beginning, they go for old ways, starting with a lengthy synthesized horror music introduction. 'Destroy All Organic Forms of Life' is a pretty good opener, sounding European and above all it's a fluently progressing piece, with all its tempo changes and parts. The riffing is heavy-handed yet rather groovy, and the band has a live, organic vibe to them. Ultra-low vocals remind of Immolation's Ross Dolan. The song sounds like a mixture of Gorefest and Swedish death metal from mid-1990s (Fleshcrawl, anyone?), with some thrash thrown in. 'God Hates His Angels' has a very Carcass' 'Necrotism...' era style chorus (especially the Jeff Walker vocal doppelganger) and the song brings in more filthy vibes. I'm not complaining..!

With 'Day of the Inquisitor', these annoying "nursery rhyme" (although 'Where Others Have a Heart' is the biggest offender) riffs start to pop out, but also NWOBHM-influenced stuff. The music is mainly fast, but there are some doomier parts in a few songs; They also managed to put in some British style melancholic doom metal There's also some groove metal stuff on 'One Man Army', where the main part sounds like Pro-Pain, but it's not a cover of Pro-Pain's 'One Man Army'! There are also some wah-infested guitar solos here, for all you Kirk Hammett diggers... Generally, the songs are riff-heavy, but surely there are some lead guitar work heard.

Damn, it's getting varying, eh?! Yep, but mostly it hangs together, sometimes well, but sometimes by a thread. It does take a plunge at times, too. 'Where Others Have a Heart' is a perfect example how just to put different parts after each other, making a song that doesn't work. Why the heck did they incorporate those positive/funny/childish sounding riffs into songs? I just do not get it. Hmmm... Wait! Maybe they are there to actually annoy a listener? Actually listening to might get one into a frenzy and jump out of a window. Sometimes these echo of Venom, but the vibe is totally wrong (okay, Venom also had some bit funny sounding bits into their songs, or what?). But there's also some cool tricks used, like eerie acoustic guitar on 'Day of the Inquisitor' and more black metal style song 'Hordes of the Nazarene'. This is a mixed bag! I guess it's exactly that lyrics-wise, too, by judging the song titles; "lyrical ejaculations" aren't printed.

The production is of demo-level. Balancing is bad, as everything except lead guitar is mixed loud as hell. It sounds like speakers are going to fall to pieces soon. It sound a bit too organic, maybe. And there certainly isn't any Pro Tools mingling here, as stuff that's not in right tempo is left in. There's not much of it, though.

The band went up to 2014, even though this was their last release. It partly works at its exhumation, but everything found isn't gold. Or a smelly corpse, anyway you like it. Still, above average, thanks to the band's enthusiasm that can be sensed.

Rating: 6- (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
12/17/2016 14:27