Artillery – Penalty By Perception

[nyrating]

24th March 2016 Reinier de Vries Album Reviews 0

Sometimes there are so many nice releases in a month that I feel like a child walking in a candy store. Metal Church, Martyr, Almanac, Burning, Accuser and now the new Artillery. ‘By Inheritance’ is still one of the best thrash albums released and the first tunes of ‘Penalty By Perception’ made me think of that album.

The nice galopping riffs, the contagious melodies and the excellent voice of Michael Bastholm Dahl impress me again and again. The mix of old school Metallica and Testament in typical Artillery style never bores. The music sounds very fresh, very thrash and very melodic. It’s almost impossible to pick a favorite song because of the high level of each song. Besides 10 new songs there is also an old demo track in a new jacket, “Welcome To the Mind Factory”. The song fits to the rest of the material as a glove and underlines my idea that a lot of songs sound really early Artillery.

In general the music is rather fast but the slower parts of “Mercy Of Ignorance” make it sound really heavy, reminding of Metallica on ‘Ride’ and ‘Master’. What would an Artillery album be with some oriental influences, this time “Sin Of Innocence” opens with them. Michael Denner and Hank Shermann play a solo on “Cosmic Brain” and Morten Sandager is another guest in the track “When the Magic Is Gone” This is a ballad reminding me of early Judas Priest, ‘Beyond the Realms of Death’ period mixed with the Scorpions. One of the better soft songs I listened to lately.

If you like some fine galopping thrash American style, poured over by good melodies in a way only Artillery can, here it is! It even might become my second favorite album.

Tracklist:

01. In Defiance Of Conformaty
02. Live By the Skythe
03. Penalty By Perception
04. Mercy Of Ignorance
05. Rites Of War
06. Sin Of Innocence
07. When the Magic Is Gone
08. Cosmic Brain
09. Deity Machine
10. Path Of the Athiest
11. Welcome To the Mind Factory

Playing time: 53:00

Release date: 25 March 2016

Label: Metal Blade Records

Website: www.facebook.com/artillery.dk

About Reinier de Vries 188 Articles

Once a metal head, always a metalhead. My parents thought it would only be a period, but they were wrong. I quit to explain the beauty of metal music to others that are not into metal, because it is something you can't tell in words... It is like explaining to a teetotaller why a cold beer is so nice on a hot day... I started with bands like Accept, Metal Church, Iron Maiden and Metallica in the eighties and I think I will still listen to them when I'm stone deaf and old...