Not to be confused with the Italian gothis metal band of the same name. Say ‘German thrash metal’ and a lot of people think of Kreator, Sodom, Destruction etc. There are elements of the former and latter for sure, There are a lot of standardized thrash elements that are done very well, but its the vocal performance that is particularly note worthy. In places he sounds a lot like Mille Petrozza.
There is a lot for Macbeth to be proud of. This is an album that I could use to play to someone when they ask ‘what is thrash metal?’. The only issue with that is that while it covers all bases to be a solid thrash album, there is not anything particularly original that I can pick out. The only exception being the song ‘Pawlos Haus’ which starts off and has in the chorus a kind of power metal vibe. Very catchy chorus, particularly. It’s also perhaps a little too long. Over an hour, even though the last 3 songs are bonus live tracks.
Instrumentally there is but one thing to fault among the undisputed high level of technical skill. The drums. The skill is very high, but the mixing is not great. In a lot of the songs, most notably the first half of the album, there is a repetitive hissing sound from symbol hits that has not been thought about in the production phase. It’s very obvious, and it takes the focus away from the otherwise very good album. Ultimately it is let down a little because of this almost constant, droning, snake like sound that really could be removed and make the whole album sound a lot better. Fortunately, as I said it doens’t last the whole album.
I can say that the style of vocals fits the music perfectly – I cannot speak for lyrical content because I do not understand the language.
This has to score very highly in terms of the level of musical skill and effort from the band – but if that annoying hissing was taken out I could quite easily give this a 9 or even 10. As it stands, I give it a respectable 7.
Listen to this sample of some of the new here via youtube.
Tracklist:
01. Ultima Ratio Regis
02. Das Große Gericht
03. Inferno
04. WN62
05. Verloren
06. König Der Henker
07. Pawlows Haus
08. Imperium
09. Ein Sturm Wird Kommen
10. Soweit Die Füße Tragen
Digipak Bonus
11. Death Under Moonlight (Live)
12. Der Fährmann (Live – Unplugged)
13. Maikäfer Flieg (Live – Unplugged)
Playing time: 67:14
Release Date: 11 September, 2015
Label: Massacre Records
Website: www.macbeth-music.de/
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