My relationship with Mustasch is a two egged sword, on one hand, I really like their heavy metal and they do have a style of their own. But on the other side, I feel that they keep repeating themselves to death.
They really managed to come up with a fresh sound with The Latest Version Of The Truth and they kept that feeling with its self titled follow up. But with this album it feels like the guys are running out of ideas. The album feels predictable and on many songs it gets a bit dull quite fast. Opener ”Speed Metal” is great song though, but it really don’t have anything to do with speed metal at all and what happens in the end? The song just ends just like someone cut it right in the middle of the ending!
Even though there is nothing that is actually crap on the album, that song is the only one that I think is really great. There are some embarrassing parts that have made their way on to this album. ”Cold Hearted Mother Son” is a complete ”Symphony Of Destruction” rip off. When it doesn’t sound exactly like The Cult, that is, but somehow it’s a pretty good song. ”Dead Again” is Metallica’s ”Sad But True” and that one, I’m not too sure about. ”Morning Star” is a really good song, but the song is about singer / guitarist / song writer Ralf Gyllenhammar’s son and the lyrics are way too cheesy even for a song of this kind. Closer ”Northern Link” is an attempt at being funny, but fails miserably, it’s not really a song, but a made up traffic report spoken over some background music. We could easily had done well without it.
All in all it’s an ok album, but it doesn’t even come close the last two albums. For the the next album, the band must come up with something fresh, because with this it feels like they are running on empty.
Jon Wilmenius (5/10)
Tracklist:
01. Speed Metal
02. The Challenger
03. It’s Never Too Late
04. Cold Heart Mother Son
05. Morning Star
06. Dead Again
07. Your Father Must Be Proud of You
08. Destroyed by Destruction
09. I Don’t Hate You
10. Northern Star
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