UMUR
"Modified Poison" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Canadian formed/French based thrash metal act E-Force. The album was released through Thundering Records in February 2008. E-Force was formed by former Voivod vocalist/bassist Eric Forrest in 2001 after he left Voivod (he recorded "Negatron (1995)" and "Phobos (1997)" with them). After releasing the E-Force debut full-length studio album "Evil Forces" in 2003, Forrest relocated to France and assembled a new lineup for the recording of "Modified Poison". The album was recorded by the three-piece: Eric Forrest (vocals, bass), Cyril Bernhardt (guitars) and Alsvid (drums). Eric Forrest is also the vocalist in Project: Failing Flesh.
The music on the album is a powerful type of thrash metal with occasional progressive leanings. The latter style is heard in the choice of chord progressions, the song structures, and in a generally adventurous songwriting approach. At it´s core this is still thrash metal with a very raw and aggressive Eric Forrest in front though. There are audible references to Eric Forrest-era Voivod in the music (take for example tracks like "Agent 99" and "Victory"), but I think the music on "Modified Poison" is a bit more catchy and accessible than the Canadians. The material on the 12 track, 53:36 minutes long album is generally of a high quality and there is a good balance between headbanger friendly riffing and more progressive ideas.
The musicianship is excellent. The three-piece are very well playing. One of the greatest assets in addition to the powerful riffing/drumming are the many skillfully played guitar solos. They sometimes appear out of the blue and I greatly appreciate that and it´s just one of the features in the music that makes it different from "regular" vers/chorus based music, even though this is not complex by any means. Eric Forrest is also a great vocalist who delivers both higher pitched sneering type vocals and even venture into death growling territory when things are most extreme. He also successfully tries his hand at singing some rough sounding "clean" vocals, but those moments are very few.
"Modified Poison" features a powerful sounding production and all features combined, is a very strong release by E-Force. Some tracks could have stood out more, but that´s probably my only complaint here. This should of course be an interesting release to fans of Eric Forrest-era Voivod, but it´s not a release that is limited to those listeners. Even if you´re not interested in Voivod, "Modified Poison" might appeal to you anyway if you enjoy thrash with progressive elements. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.