This is the fourth album by the Finnish quintet comprising of Jyrki Leskinen (vocals), Teemu Vähäkangas and Simo Partanen (guitar), Esa Pennala (bass) and Petteri Lammassaari (drums), of which four have been there for 21 year and most have performed in other bands for just as long too.
The album opens with the amazingly fast “Rapid Fire” where the snare beats sound exactly like the song title, as the rushing guitar riffs keep pace, and the angry vocals have a gruff rather than clean delivery.
“Burn Perfection” is possibly even faster, and if the drum hits weren’t as clean as they are, you’d be hard pressed to say they weren’t falling over themselves, but Petteri is a very precise drummer and even the guitar leads fit in with his quick tempo.
Slowing things down dramatically, “Stranger Roots” has a much darker groove to it as the guitar harmonies feel heavier with the bass thumping away in accompaniment.
Jyrki makes no attempt to hide the contempt in his voice when spitting out “Hate Of Hatred”, and the leads are just as angry while the choral chorus does seem to be far too melodious for the content of the song.
Easily doubling the pace, “Fleshless” is a relentless attack on the senses both from the guitars and drums, with vicious shouted vocals to drive all home, and leads that could flay anyone with skin.
Heading back to a heavy but slowish melody for the intro, “Preaching To The Choir” is anything but slow and the bass breaks do add a nice touch to the harmony the guitars are playing throughout.
The two layers of vocals on the “Inviting Darkness” chorus have a rather eerie effect, as the clean harmony is just that, a clean harmony of the gravelly vocal which incidentally is also sung rather than growled out.
Opening with a breakneck lead, “Limited” has the timing of old school thrash bordering on punk with its straightforward beat and gallop on the kick drum.
About as useful as saying ‘listen’ in sign language, but people always like to keep others in their “Thoughts And Prayers” and with the anguished whine of the chorus, I gather they feel the same.
It’s easy to understand why all their songs are so short, as you just wouldn’t be able to pack the same punch in a 7-minute version of “Bow To Disorder” without halving its speed and making it far more dull.
What’s also nice is that “Zombie Walk” and to be honest their entire back catalogue can be found on their Bandcamp site, so you can give them a listen and enjoy them for yourself.
They end the album with the title track “Cast Out From Idiocracy” which is rather mid-tempo but has a catchy chorus that I’m sure everyone’s going to be signing from the pit when they get to watch the band live.
Thankfully, they don’t seem to take themselves too seriously and that just adds to the fun on the album.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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