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| Buy this album |
On a certain level, this five-song EP works almost as a clinic for disparate ‘80s metal styles: traditional, thrash, speed (don’t ask me to parse the differences between the last two) and a touch of early death, back when it overlapped with the more frenzied thrash out there. The riffs on display walk the tightrope between abjectly cliched and delightfully memorable. The vocals, on the other hand, ride the rails of high-pitched screaming and yelping right off a cliff of total absurdity. Somewhere past Harry Conklin, Nasty Ronnie and Alan Tecchio, you’ll find Angels of the Apocalypse’s Michael Spafford, and as much as I love the aforementioned three, I’m not sure that I’m being complimentary in this instance. We’re definitely talking acquired taste here. Just the same, I’m almost prepared to chalk this up as a charming, uneven throwback to earlier, more amiably ludicrous times, but then the digitally recorded guitars and distinctly hollow drum programming snap me out of 1986 with brusque obnoxiousness and I’m left with hurt feelings and chronic disappointment. Supposedly, Herr Spafford is toying with the idea of making this more of a band concern than the two-man studio patchwork offered here. Not sure if that will make it any better, but it will thankfully make it sound fuller. Famous last words from me.
| Tracklist |
| 1. War Cry/March of the Darkones |
| 2. The Grand Demise |
| 3. Apocalyptic Ways |
| 4. Drowning in Cocytus |
| 5. The Forbidden Zone |
: 19:31
| Buy other Angels of the Apocalypse albums |
