Industrial death metal, which, although this Roadrunner band is now very mainstream, was quite innovative in 1992 when this album was released. These guys really had all the makings of a relatively good death metal band, albeit with pretty simple songs. They get away with this though because their songs are quite short, and the album has 16 of them, plus a pointless instrumental right in the middle. Their music has atmosphere, and all their songs are different. The album has some pretty weak, uncreative parts, but also has some really nice riffs in other parts. It's very raw despite it's industrial influence, and its lyrics are very thematic. My favourite tracks are Martyr, Scapegoat, and the incredibly ferocious, evil sounding, Desecrate. All have great feeling to them. I like the vocalist's ability to go from very dry-throated roaring to atmospheric clean vocals. He does this well at live shows too. Unfortunately this band went downhill, but this album really is worth checking out nonetheless, especially if you like this sort of thing.

This review is credited to:
Julian Forbes