Denmark's thrash metal veterans Artillery have been around, in one form or another, for close to 35 years now (hard to imagine!), but they are still going strong as evident by their brand new album for Metal Blade, titled Penalty By Perception. With their seventh album, the band employ their tried and true formula of relentless yet melodic thrash metal, chock full of crunchy riffs & twin lead guitar majesty of the Stutzer brothers Morten & Michael, the pummeling rhythms of drummer Josua Madsen and bassist Peter Thorslund, and the powerful vocals of frontman Michael Bastholm Dahl.
If you liked their 2014 release Legions, then you are in for another treat here with Penalty By Perception. It's one killer tune after another of molten yet instantly memorable thrash, with Dahl's vocals soaring over the top of effective riff-o-rama on tracks "Live by the Scythe", "In Defiance of Conformity", "Rites of War", and the crushing title track. For the tunes "When the Magic is Gone" and "Cosmic Brain" the band invited friends Hank Shermann & Michael Denner from Mercyful Fate and former Mercenary/The Pretty Maids vocalist/keyboard player Morten Sandager to join in on the fun, with great results, especially on the latter, which is a raging, venomous trash vehicle for all involved with plenty of blazing guitar solos. It's not all frantic, fast paced metal however, as the band even crank out some grinding, classic sounding metal on the heavy "Path of the Atheist" and even a touch of prog on the spectacular "Welcome to the Mindfactory", which is chock full of incredible guitar work.
Just as relevant here in 2016 as they were in the early '80s, Artillery are still delivering killer heavy metal to a whole new generation of fans who probably weren't even born yet when the band first burst on the scene. Penalty By Perception is a must have, and comes highly recommended!
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
1) In Defiance of Conformity
2) Live by the Scythe
3) Penalty By Perception
4) Mercy of Ignorance
5) Rites of War
6) Sin of Innocence
7) When the Magic is Gone
8) Cosmic Brain
9) Deity Machine
10) Pain of the Atheist
11) Welcome to the Mindfactory
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