The Swiss are well known for their precision and the tech-thrash power trio that is Coroner keep this reputation strong with this tech-thrash triumph. While it's one thing to play technical music it's an entirely different art form to make catchy and relevant technical music that uses the technicality as a tool rather than a crutch. It is Coroner's ability to make catchy yet technical riffs that makes them one of my favourite metal acts, likewise it is how they display this skill on this particular album that makes it one of my favourite metal albums.
Thrash power trio's are fairly rare but with the amazing skill of these guys you couldn't really justify adding a second guitarist. Tommy Vetterli the guitarist possesses great skill which doesn't particularly impress me compared to his skill at writing some amazing riffs. Ron Royce has a unique euro-trash growl and is more than able to carry on the riffage while Vetterli is soloing. And Marky Edelmann is the glue that holds it all together with his technical, modest and super-tight drumming.
The album starts off very strongly (after a brief intro) with 'Aborbed' and it really gives you a great taste of what the album is about, it's interesting in that to me it seems like it possesses some of that rare and triumphant 'hard-rockin' spirit - the kind that is raw and devoid of cliche cheese, and it is contrasted perfectly alongside technical, atonal and bitchin' generally riffs. To perfectly grasp this intangible concept I speak of the cover of 'purple haze' sums it up perfectly. The third song 'Masked Jackal' is a thrash metal classic, amazingly catchy with near perfect riffing and construction and some great solos thanks to guitar wizard Tommy Vetterli. I'm a big fan of well considered solos in thrash as opposed to the all too common million notes a second atonal spam.
The instrumental Arc-lite is a lesson in what neo-classical metal should be (or could be), don't let that phrase deter you (it certainly would deter me). The song is a well considered yet highly aggressive thrash metal take on classical music that actually has emotional gravity to it, really it just needs to be listened to as it's hard convey with words and it exemplifies the song content on the album - well written with a perfect balance between melody and aggression.
This is one of the all time great thrash albums and deserves to mentioned in the same breath as classics like Kreator's Terrible Certainty, Dark Angel's Darkness Descends and Nuclear Assault's Handle with Care.
Track List:
| 1. | Intro | 00:13 |
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| 2. | Absorbed | 03:42 |
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| 3. | Masked Jackal | 04:48 |
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| 4. | Arc-Lite | 03:20 |
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| 5. | Skeleton On Your Shoulder | 05:34 |
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| 6. | Sudden Fall | 04:50 |
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| 7. | Shadow Of A Lost Dream | 04:32 |
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| 8. | The New Breed | 04:53 |
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| 9. | Voyage To Eternity | 03:42 |
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| 10. | Purple Haze (Jimi Hendrix cover) | 03:21 |
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| Total playing time | 38:55 |
Download Here:
(Coroner - Punishment for Decadence 192kbps)
Thrash/Classical? Thats right, this album is probably the most unique thrash album I've ever heard. The first 2 songs are great slow paced proggy thrash songs but things really start to get interesting with songs 3-8. Mekong Delta have managed to almost seamlessly meld thrash instrumentation with classical song structure and and instrumentation resulting in a completely unique experience. This is the polar opposite of some Yngwie character shredding his fingertips off in a baroque chord patttern, it's more like Wagner with double kick and riffing guitars. The last 2 songs are upbeat thrash songs with great dreamy melodies that perfectly cap off this weird album, a very interesting listen.
