Occasionally I listen to an album and forget that I’m meant to actually be reviewing it, rather than just listening to it over and over. I guess this is owing to the quality of the music and the fact that song lengths allow for all the dynamic changes to flow without ever needing to be hurried.
The opening 2 songs, “Introduction” and “Ouverture”, are an instrumental pair with the 2 minutes of the former being played by Ralf Hubert on a classical guitar before he swaps over to his bass and is joined by Erik Adam H. Grösch on guitar and Alex Landenburg on the drums as the tempo quickly increases in familiar Mekong Delta fashion to become the intricate layered thrash.
Martin LeMar’s superb voice is first heard on the rather up-tempo “The Armageddon Machine” where the vocal melody doesn’t follow that of the guitars or timing signature of the drums making it stand out as an instrument in its own right.
The slow and moody “The Sliver in Gods Eye” has LeMar singing in a deep baritone to complement the picking of the high notes on the guitar and the low boom of the toms, also using a choral element on the backing vocals to great effect. The guitars morph into long slides and sustains which retain their airy quality by remaining higher pitched and piercing.
Alternating between ultra-fast and super-slow, “Janus” is aptly named for it contrasts in extremes. LeMar’s rapid vocals spill out as quickly as Grösch’s fingers can hammer them out of the guitar, but flow smoothly along the subdued guitar melody when at its nadir.
“Inside the Outside of the Inside” is the third instrumental track on the album and builds leisurely at first until it becomes a frantic cacophony as if trapped in a box and trying to find its way out before it runs out of air.
Retaining aforementioned pace, “Hindsight Bias” is thrashy, but full of twists and riff changes with the juxtaposition of slow vocals over the fastest riffs, it also contains possibly quickest lead played on the entire album.
The album ends on a high note with “Mutant Messiah” and its full thrash assault delivered as only Mekong Delta could. The clean crisp vocals ring out over the guitars in much the same way the lead does over everything else when its time to shine comes.
If you’re a fan, then you’ll love this album as it contains everything you’d expect from Hubert and his crew, all beautifully executed and performed with German precision but enough subtle aggression to deliver the required gut punch. And if you aren’t a fan… well you ought to be.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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