Nuclear metal, metalpunk or whatever you want to call it, this is Children of Technology’s third album. Expect rebellion.

Opening song “Soundtrack of No Future” has a crisp sound, a solid beat and some rousing rock n roll style guitar work. The pace picks up, and an air of nastiness enters the scene with the vocals but belying the negativity of the subject, it’s invigorating. The style is 1980s. They say Venom, Nuclear Assault and early Onslaught. I’d say a bit of Motorhead too. Fast and hard is where it’s at, and “Creation through Destruction” thrashes along with the best of them, with the added punk style and chorus chant. It’s brutal and energetic. I could see in the chorus where punk became hardcore when listening to the title song, but ultimately it’s another thrashfest. It has a super tempo change in the middle where it goes from all out speed to an atmospheric, grimy passage. The vocalist screams like he’s lost the plot before it all kicks off again. The razor like guitar style is straight out of the punk era but with the benefit of a great all round sound and production. The frenetic drumming style and aggressive in your face vocals are an integral part of this. We fly though the fury and metal hardcore punk of “The New Barbarians”, “Desert City” and “Warpainted Nightcreatures”. It doesn’t change much but neither does the relentless heaviness. Instrumental twists drop by to intrigue us, but essentially we are paying homage to fast and hard-hitting punk metal. So, it goes on. “The Days of Future Passed” is slightly more subdued but the energetic fury returns on the final piece “Wasteland Cratediggers” before we are taken out with a short and rare electro-gothic passage.

You could say there are no prizes for subtlety on this album but here are 8 well-constructed songs. The mood is the same and doesn’t deviate from the metalpunk norm, strange to say as this is the music of rebellion, but “Written Destiny” is largely high tempo and exciting, and always intense and energetic.

(7.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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