Swansong in lousy production

BRIDE are over. The metalheads are probably better known in the Christian scene. There I met them in 1987 and have known me in the almost 30 years (!) Do not have heard. In 1990, I lost them though out of sight, until then, they made quite shrill Hair Metal, the late 90s but I worked her more biography after and found that your sound transformed repeatedly by crunchy Hard Rock over half acoustic alternative, then grunge, again hard rock, nu-metal and in the last 10 years finally rifforientierten heavy metal.

Albums This Is It (2003), SKIN FOR SKIN (2006) and TSAR BOMBA (2009) I regard as their best both from the song material, the hardness and their production. As the guitarist Steve Osborne committed suicide in 2011, I thought the band would be at the end. Only now I've found that they Incorruptible 2013 with another (definitely last) published album, which I of course blind and unheard ordered me. And that leaves me at a loss.

First: the production is so bad that I thought he had accidentally receive a demo recording: schedderiger garage sound, muffled guitars that were mixed behind vocals and drums and more rummatschen develop as the usual printing (!). But even after I as a fan was getting myself on the rusty junkyard sound and was prepared to wrest him a certain charm, it has not grabbed me.

Dale Thompson singing acts trying somehow purely forced his shouts, his voice no longer so wonderfully exalted. If it is in two parts, it sounds often skewed (especially when you sing before so leierigen guitars like the chorus of WE LIE or WHERE YOU WANT TO GO, and no, it does not get better by placing two jaulige gospel singer takes to as in I CANT IMAGINE or melting). So I ask myself: has not heard in the mix? Or the crooked Cello in MELTING?

And also the song material is remarkable. Although over long songs can be interesting, but that does not automatically progressive, and, unfortunately, the two Siebenminüter FREE and religion act partially gepatchworkt with parts that do not quite fit and do not develop the necessary dynamics and drama. There is not a song not consistently good, although there are many beautiful guitar solos, but every time legs away a cacophony, a missed opportunity, a carryover, pace between. What is for example the silly moaning at the start of SLEEP ON? Or the instrumental miniatures with classical piano or ukulele which have disturbed the drain during the previous album? Or the five-minute melange of dauernervendem guitar lick, schlagerhaftem chorus and bloodless presentation at SOMETHING I NEED TO KNOW?

In summary: an album that you can hardly hear through in one to which indeed has its strong moments, but it brings on a single song, which reached the level of last year. Since it is unfortunately already significant that the only track that goes to the heart, touches and a warm, organic sound, has the final track is a three-minute ballad on acoustic guitar that sounds like the final resume after 30 years of band work. That's the best song on Incorruptible: an acoustic ballad. For a metal band! - As the final goodbye is even harder than anyway.

Better they broke up after TSAR BOMBA. Perhaps the death of Osborne the band has also given a crack - unfortunately Osborne is not mentioned in the credits of the poor "booklets", so I do not know if there is a Zusammehang with this sprawling, überambitionieren but bloodless production. But a cross-hearing by the entire retrospective makes clear that Incorruptible represents the most remarkable and weakest work alongside Oddities.