GODDESS OF DESIRE
(Perverted Taste Records)
Third album, third record label... after these Dutch Metal warriors had already been working with Shivadarshana Records and Metal Blade on their previous two albums "Let Us Win This War" ('97) and "Symbol Of Triumph" ('99), they most recently ended up on the small yet rather fine Perverted Taste roster. The sad thing is, that their musical evolution is pretty much a contradiction to what the label usually stands for. On "Symbol Of Triumph" they still saved my day with their extremely cool mixture of straight'n'simple riff-orientated thrashy Metal in the vein of early CARNIVORE (vocals), old VENOM and CELTIC FROST, while the new stuff is a lot more melodic and Heavy Metal influenced... Might be due to the addition of a second guitarist, who knows?! Fact is, that cliché type hymns à la 'Bonded By Metal' or 'Conquerors Divine' sound nothing but ridiculous in my book and I could easily live without them, while tracks like 'Symbol Of Triumph' still represent the heavier and far more convincing side of the band. I also don't like the second lead vocalist's voice too much, which is a little more screamy and that, in combination with those Heavy Metal influences, reminds me quite a bit on Sweden's BEWITCHED. So, all in all I'm not too fond about this whole new record. I just hope they will drop a lot of the harmony stuff and go back to their more heavier side on the next one again. But a cool coverart once again...