UMUR
"The Downside" is the 5th full-length studio album by US power/thrash metal act Hades. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in February 2000. It´s the successor to "$avior$elf" from 1999 and features the same five-piece lineup who recorded the predecessor, although bassist Scott LePage only plays on a couple of tracks, while the bass on the remaining tracks are predominantly played by guitarist Dan Lorenzo (except "Bitter Suite #1" which was recorded by D.D.Verni from Overkill).
The material on "The Downside" continue the groove laden US power/thrash metal style of "$avior$elf (1999)", but fortunately more than one feature have been given a lift of quality since the predecessor. The sound production which was a bit of an issue on the predecessor is decent sounding on "The Downside". It´s not the best sounding production job (the drums could definitely have been better produced), but it´s listenable. The musicianship was never an issue with Hades, although it´s only lead vocalist Alan Tecchio who stands out as something out of the ordinary. The rest of the band do their job and do it well, but there´s nothing extraordinary about their performances.
It´s in the songwriting department where Hades have finally reached a decent level though. The preceding releases by the band haven´t been awful or anything like that, but they haven´t exactly made my blood boil either. Middle-of-the-road US power/thrash metal with a skilled lead vocalist in front, but not particularly memorable nor distinct sounding. That description also fits large parts of "The Downside", but there are more quality tracks here than usual for a Hades release. The dark atmosphere and heavy riffs and rhythms of album opener "Ground Zero NYC" is for example a real joy listening to, and there are other equally good quality tracks featured on the album.
The inconsistency of both quality and musical style (and even inconsistency in sound quality between tracks) which have marred the preceding releases by the band are unfortunately also issues on "The Downside". Not as serious issues as before, but still issues, and it´s honestly a bit odd that a seasoned act like Hades at that point in their hadn´t been able to produce a well sounding release with consistent quality material. Normally I would praise diversity and an act branching out trying different sounds and styles, but Hades have a hard time creating a tracklist with a good flow, with the material they have recorded for "The Downside".
Ultimately I know my words above can be read as very negative, but remember I wrote that "The Downside" is a step up in quality from their preceding releases and that there are several strong tracks featured on the album, and we should not forget the considerable vocal skills of Tecchio either, which are always wonderful to listen to, so all in all "The Downside" isn´t a half-bad album, but actually more of a half-good one, and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.