TOXIC TRACE — For Eternal and Now (review)

TOXIC TRACE — For Eternal and Now album cover EP · 1999 · Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
TOXIC TRACE is one of those mystery bands that formed, cranked out a couple releases that went nowhere and then quietly retreated into obscurity. This band from Pritzwalk, a small city in the former East Germany should not be confused with another German band of the same name from Singen.

This TOXIC TRACE only has two releases to its name, the first emerging with this EP titled FOR ETERNAL AND NOW from 1999. This short EP features seven tracks and adds up to about 22 minutes of playing time. Six are studio tracks with the final track mined from a live show in 1997. This band featured Matthias Dunze (bass), Holger Wendtlandt (drums), René Haber (keyboards), Stefan Schmidt (vocals) and Christian Maack (vocals).

This is old school death metal by the books and the band was clearly about ten years too late to the party. Sounding something like a mix of early Autopsy and a less talented Obituary, the riffs are solid and due to the melodic touches reminds a bit at times of early Amorphis with “Tales From The Thousand Lakes.” This is pretty much lo-fi demo quality so if you’re into those gritty DIY projects, this will scratch that itch.

For a quick death metal experience you could do worse than FOR ETERNAL AND NOW. The songs are varied enough to keep your interest and the old school death metal musicianship is decently performed. One of the more interesting aspects of TOXIC TRACE is that they used their native German language occasionally as in the track “Erinnerung” and i have to say that death metal sung in German is quite bizarre indeed!

This band is one of those true lost and forgotten examples of a band that arrived too late to the scene and never gained any traction. Death metal had already evolved to the progressive world of Gorguts and beyond by 1999 so this is really nothing to get overly excited about however it is a fine example of an underground death metal band from some far flung place in Germany having fun with their art form. Overall the quality of the music is about as adequate as the cover art. Competent but in many ways too generic for primetime.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Antibeauty Hardcore Punk
SNOWING IN PERU
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mana Earth Hardcore Punk
SNOWING IN PERU
Buy this album from MMA partners
Intimate Isolation Hardcore Punk
GOOD FALL
Buy this album from MMA partners
Dark Future Sludge Metal
PAIN CHEMISTRY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Violent Delights Hardcore Punk
GALLEONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Galleons - Electric Emotions
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 17 hours ago
Galleons - Elsewhere (Official Lyric Video)
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 17 hours ago
Galleons - Neon Dreams (Official Lyric Video)
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 17 hours ago
Galleons - I Travel East As Fievel Goes West Pt. 1 - Official Lyric Video
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 17 hours ago
FREEHOWLING - SCARS FT. AARON MATTS (TEN56.) [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]
FREEHOWLING
Bosh66· 18 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed