The first thing I read about this album is that the band defined Queensryche’s 1988 album “Operation: Mindcrime” as the thematic inspiration for it. The second was that Thirteenth Sign are a melodic death / thrash band, with possible appeal to fans of Kreator, Arch Enemy and The Haunted. The band has been around for 15 years, this is their fourth album and they have an impressive live cv.

After an eerie scene setting start, it’s down to business with the energetic metal of “Bond of Wicked Blood”. To a hypnotic riff, Thirteenth Sign mingle heaviness, harshness and melody. There’s an awful lot going on, too much I wondered, as there are another twelve tracks to parade their wares. After a little symphonic chorus and the sound of a motor bike, the raucous and death-inspired “Impulse Control” kicks in. I don’t like the vocals, which make me want to clear my throat, but it’s organic and there’s no doubting the pungent energy. The chorus is a bit of a deliberate rabble. “Electric Hammer” is full of life and I suspect would be brilliant live, with flailing hair, crowd interaction and unstoppable power at its core. Even the short narrative works before the driving juggernaut resumes its impressive journey. The riff of “Demons Within” has The Haunted written all over it. The attempt at an uplifting chorus is just terrible but never mind. The song drives forward and like “Bond of Wicked Blood” before it, is impressively layered and catchy in its nicely malevolent way, but I did wonder again if Thirteenth Sign aren’t trying to inject too much into some of their songs. It all ends with the sound of a video game, and then we’re off into the dark and shadowy world of “Locked in a Deadly Embrace”, oh and a bit of Queensrychian choral bombast. Best to forget about that, because this is a rousing and driving metal song. The growls match it perfectly. The song structure keeps us interested while the guitar and drum work on both this and every song is exciting. The winds are blowing aplenty. I even accepted that chorus by the end. This is dynamic. Listening to this album is like being at a live show.

“Walls of Jericho” provides a slight change of pitch with an angelic female voice, who heroically continues to warble to the accompaniment of metal mayhem and deep growls. I can’t imagine Stevie Nicks putting up with this, but it’s an interesting fusion. Mid-stream, there’s a nice instrumental section and the lady is allowed to sound ethereal without interruption, well for a few seconds anyway as the explosion resumes. The poor woman has to battle once more against the melodic metal monster. It’s interesting but I can’t say it really worked. A sample suggesting Police attendance at a murder reminds us what we’re here for. This is the prelude to more damned good metal, which would be an apt summary of this whole album. So would erratic vocals. I guess it’s supposed to be dramatic, but I really do think a bit of thought ought to go into the quality of some of these vocals. The growls and screams are fine but anything approaching clean vocals are out of tune. The band plays on meanwhile in its uncompromising way. Mutilated bodies have been found, we’re told, and dark melodic thrash captures the scene. This is “Leech”. The musical river of blood flows on in its varied way. Other than odd reminders, I’d lost the story line about the criminal mind but I guess the tragic tones and melancholy of “The Perpetual Darkness” were meant to emphasise the theme, as was the symphonic Therionesque start of “Ashes for Eternity”. In a way that I’d become used to, the song goes into rampant melodic death metal before integrating the symphony briefly into the metal intensity. It could never be sustained and it’s not for long though as Thirteenth Sign revert to the dark thrash option to end. Musically as always “Silent Witness” is full of life and energy. The cleaner vocals are for the most part dire, while the music and flow create epic drama which are deserving of better accompaniment. As I listened to the final song “The Scars of Betrayal”, I reflected that it was like listening to Mercenary’s former singer Mikkel Sandager on a really bad day. It’s such a pity and the dual vocal assault on this song are best forgotten. And as ever the band played on magnificently and that’s how I prefer to remember this album.

“The Ashes of a Treacherous Silence” is heavy on ideas and strong on personality. Thirteenth Sign do need to sort out their vocal range. Very few bands are capable of delivering the range of options they were looking to represent, and I don’t think it would have added to the drama or coherence if they had succeeded. At times it turned into a battle with the instrumentalists, who were superb. The riffs, the structures, the melodies and the energy were irrepressible, and The Thirteenth Sign here ran the risk of overcomplication but worked up a fresh and sophisticated storm every time. Whilst in my view there were pluses and minuses, and the technical imperfections spoilt my listening a little, this is still an enjoyable album and I reckon that The Thirteenth Sign must be a cracking live band to watch – I look forward to the day.

(7/10 Andrew Doherty)

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