ARTILLERY — When Death Comes (review)

ARTILLERY — When Death Comes album cover

Album · 2009 · Thrash Metal

4/5 · 2011-01-18
UMUR

"When Death Comes" is the 5th full-length studio album by Danish thrash metal act Artillery. The album was released through Metal Mind Productions in June 2009. There have been a few significant lineup changes since "B.A.C.K. (1999)", which was the last album released by Artillery before they split-up for the second time (Artillery disbanded the first time in the early nineties). Lead vocalist Flemming Rønsdorf has been replaced by Søren Adamsen and drummer Per M. Jensen (Invocator, The Haunted), who played session drums on "B.A.C.K. (1999)", has been replaced by original drummer Carsten Nielsen. That means that besides the change on the lead vocalist spot, the lineup on "When Death Comes" is the same lineup that recorded the now legendary "By Inheritance (1990)" (the 3rd album by the band).

The music on the album is powerful yet melodic thrash metal. While there´s high speed and raw thrash metal riffing in spades on this album, there´s a rare sense for melody and memorability too, that you won´t hear every day on a thrash metal release. I´d point towards the raw US power metal style as a strong influence in addition to more regular technically well played thrash metal. I´d even say there are nods towards more traditional heavy metal on the album too (when it´s most melodic I´m thinking Iron Maiden). Fans of the band probably held their breath when they heard that longtime lead vocalist Flemming Rønsdorf had been replaced by Søren Adamsen, but let me tell you straight away, that there´s nothing to fear. Søren Adamsen has the right raw and rusty voice for Artillery´s music and while there are a few things that set the two vocalists apart, I probably wouldn´t have noticed that there was a new vocalist in the band, if I didn´t know. Søren Adamsen is fully capable of taking up the heavy legacy of Flemming Rønsdorf and while they do sound very much alike, Søren Adamsen does put is own mark on the music enough for him not to sound like a clone.

The music is extremely well played with a tight rhythm section and the blistering guitar work from the Stützer brothers. Some of the riffs on this album are absolutely crushing. Take a listen to the chorus in "10.000 Devils" for an example of that. I´m still sore in the neck from bangin´ so hard to that one. Just fantastic riffing there and that actually goes for the whole album. The great thing about "When Death Comes" is the level of sophistication and melodic variation that is on display all the time. While the album certainly is crushingly heavy and quite aggressive too, there are several melodic sections on the album with harmony guitar melodies and other memorable hooks to keep the tracks from drowning in aggression. Of course the recognizable and hook laden vocal lines sung by Søren Adamsen also help to achive that. The songwriting is of high quality and again the variation between raw and hard hittin´ and the more melodic are in the high seat. A song like the power ballad "Delusions of Grandeur" is the best example of the melodic side of the band while you can take the two opening tracks "When Death Comes" and "Upon My Cross I Crawl" if you want to hear the band at their most aggressive.

It is quite impressive that Artillery can release consistent high quality thrash metal albums that sound like they never left the scene, even though they´ve split-up twice in the last 20 years and they´ve only managed to release 3 albums in that time. Not only once but twice they´ve released a great comeback album, and I have to agree that it´s quite the achivement. Even though "When Death Comes" is undeniably an old school thrash metal album, it´s not like the band sound like dinosaurs from eighties (far from it). But they´ve stayed true to their sound, and you know what? Sometimes that´s what works. There are no unneccesary experimentation or suckin´ up to the taste of contemporary audiences on this album. What you get is a high quality melodic thrash metal album with a powerful production, quality songwriting and excellent musicianship. It doesn´t get much better than this. A 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating is more than deserved.