There have been times, when legendary bands haven't been able to deal anything, or then just lame versions of their old glories, or something completely new that no-one cares about. This is where some substitutes are required, and if one is lucky, also found. 1990s were tough time for many a legendary thrash metal band, and so even in early noughties, so substitutes were required, badly.
That's the way how I found Russian thrash metal band Manic Depression, who started in 2000. 'Who Deals the Pain' is their debut album, which first came out with a painted fantasy-style cover (demons tormenting humans) as demo tape in 2002, and re-recorded it for the CD release with more war-based photo collage in 2003. While the latter is way more typical cover theme, it actually fits better with the sonics and words; the band have more reality-based sound, as well as the lyrics (mostly about warring, modern societies, extremists). Guys weren't newcomers to metal music, as they had played in Empire Rising, Korrozia Metalla and Д.И.В., among others.
The band were operating with classic thrash metal with quite a hefty crossover leaning to it, as well as loads of melodiousness. Machine gun riffing (read: fast shredding) and heftier and rusty slower riffage nicely alternate. Then it's time for melodic lead guitar work and soloing, which is more than able, as well as are shredding tremolo leads. There are also some cleaner, calm passages, as well as some open-string stuff with industrial vibes. With or without melodic bits, MD have managed to create more or less catchy songs (only one of them being over 5 minutes long). The tempo patterns get rather experimental at times, which gives this more character (try 'Paranoia over the World'); fear not, however, since there's a lot of skank beats and double kick drumming. Similarities could be drawn to Vio-lence, E-Force and old Megadeth to give some guidance, although they managed to pen rather characteristic piece 'Secret Dreams', too. Aggressive, groovy, loud, catchy! The drive through the album stays on, and often more aggressive and more melodic songs take turns.
The vocals are shouting, often semi-growled. They definitely give this some true hardcore edge. Spoken bits are more accessible version of Sean Killian (Vio-lence) without yelping and Prong's Tommy Victor (check out 'The Endless Extasy' which is very much like a Prong song). While there's quite a sturdy accent, it is okay, as the harsh vocalization hides some of it. However, there's not much fluctuation in harsher vocals, and they are the worst aspect of the album, even though they aren't lame.
The production is good all way through. It is powerful and clean with heavy rhythm guitar tone and snapping snare drum sound, and reverbing lead guitars bringing in airiness. While there are some great songs, also mediocre ones emerge (e.g. 'Monsters in Uniform' and 'No Money, no Revolution'). Still, scales easily tip to positive in entirety. Manic Depression's debut album is a cool piece of familiar elements from thrash metal past weaved into one. Definitely worthy of trying out.
P.S. The Mystic Empire reissue from 2006 includes a demo track and a music video. I suppose the demo version is from the 2002 debut demo. It would have been better if the whole demo was featured as files, since the version is that much different, that it would have been interesting to delve into the whole demo. The anti-drug music video for 'Paranoia over the World' isn't in worst possible quality, but not too good either. Generally, this contains lame extras and therefore is not an essential version.
Rating: 7½ (out of 10) ratings explained
Reviewed by Lane
01/28/2022 10:56
