Four years after the negatively received debut record Poser Holocaust, Floridian thrash metal quintet Thrash or Die released its sophomore output Melting Your Skull. Few things have changed in those four years which means that those who already despised the first album should not even bother about the second release. If you however enjoyed the first strike for its comedic value like I did, you might as well give this one a spin.

For those who are unaware of this band, Thrash or Die plays brutal, predictable and stereotypical old school thrash metal in the key of Exodus and Slayer. The guitar riffs heavily borrow from these bands and sound exchangeable, one-dimensional and repetitive without adding any new elements. The bass guitar is barely audible and fails to provide some energy, rhythm and structure. The drum play is certainly energetic but once again by the numbers. The constantly aggressive vocals recall an angry Donald Duck imitation. 

The songwriting is all over the place. Most songs are simple fast-paced thrash metal tunes that go straight in your face such as opener ''Metal Massacre (The Ultimate Revenge)''. 

Some songs have slightly entertaining radio play passages such as ''The Post Mortem Star'' that tries but fails to convey a sinister atmosphere or the chaotic and forgettable ''What Do You Mean We're Out of Beer?'' that intends but fails to be a tongue-in-cheek party anthem. 

The record features two massive oddballs with the aggressive ''Internet Metalhead'' that must have taken two minutes to write, play and record as well as the awful a cappella interlude ''Un Canto a Cabaiguán'' that sticks out like a sore thumb for all the wrong reasons.

Only two minor elements have changed in comparison to the predecessor. The most obvious one is that the cover artwork this time around isn't as horrid as the sketchy drawings of the debut. The second and most important change is that the production sounds a little bit more dynamic and up-to-date. The debut album sounded painfully cacophonic at times which isn't the case this time around. The production still isn't perfect since the bass guitar isn't audible and the vocals are too loud in the mixture but it's average which means it's a significant step forward in relation to the first strike.

This means that Thrash or Die's Melting Your Skull is a slight improvement over the predecessor with an improved production and a decent cover artwork. Still, this album isn't good enough to be called decent or even average. It's a mediocre thrash metal album filled with boring stereotypes but at least it isn't a joke or an abomination this time around. If Thrash or Die continued to improve like this, they might actually release a thrash metal milestone in twenty years. Only time will tell.

Final rating: 43%

Disillusion's Back to Times of Splendor has been recommended to me on numerous occasions and I have finally found the time to give it a few spins during the pandemic.

I can partially understand why many people appreciate this album so much. The production is surprisingly great for a debut record and makes each instrument and vocal style shine. The songwriting is certainly creative and the band shows a lot of imagination. The occasional symphonic elements blend in elegantly for instance and never sound artificial. The record is surprisingly heavy for a progressive metal output with aggressive growls, chaotic rhythm section and loud guitar riffs. The musicianship is at times technically impressive. The cover artwork is beautiful and imaginative. The best song is the short, quiet and inspiring ''A Day by the Lake'' while the epic closer ''The Sleep of Restless Hours'' features a few inspiring guitar melodies and vocal harmonies despite its excessive length.

However, there are quite a few things I dislike about the album. The songwriting is quite stretched and many songs are much too long for their own good. They seem to go on forever with either unnecessarily repeated passages such as in ''And the Mirror Cracked'' or with odd breaks introducing changes in style as in ''Back to Times of Splendor''. Despite the extensive running time, many songs sound stressful to a point when it becomes nerve-firing. The final result makes me think of Symphony X's forced tough-sounding musicianship of recent years and System of a Down's at times twitching and itching genre shifts.

In the end, Disillusion's Back to Times of Splendor might be of interest if you like overloaded progressive extreme metal but someone who is looking for atmosphere, fluidity and melody can find much better outputs than this strangely overrated record.

Final rating: 50%

Siegfried's Drachenherz is the first part in a trilogy about Middle High German epic poem Nibelungenlied. The music can be described as powerful heavy metal with occasional atmospheric symphonic metal elements and melodic power metal passages. The project involves six musicians, including three different vocalists. Bruder Hagen Cle performs passionate growls that are however sometimes lacking skills and sound too loud in the production. Werner Bialek performs clean vocals that work well in the catchy choruses but sound a little bit bland at times and are missing charisma. Sandra Schleret who would later join symphonic metal band Elis completes the trio and offers the most variable, talented and gripping performance on this album.

On the positive side, the conceptual approach is quite entertaining and does the epic poem justice. The group's symphonic elements blend in very well and offer some cinematic soundscapes here and there. The guitar work is heavy yet melodic and should appeal to traditional heavy metal fans. Highlights include the catchy and gripping ''Rheingold'', the gothic ballad ''Hexenblut'' with its passionate female vocals and atmospheric keyboard layers, the diversified epic ''Rabenschlacht'' that summarizes the project's multiple strengths best and the melancholic yet heavy ''Schwarzer Engel''.

On the negative side, the production is sometimes underwhelming since the guitars sound at times too loud in the mixture. The three different vocal tracks are at times hectically overlapping. The lyrics are therefore often hard to understand. The songwriting is a little bit uneven as the different tracks meander from plain average to very good.

In the end, Siegfried's first record Drachenherz shows much promise and does the famous Middle High German epic poem Nibelungenlied justice. The album reminds of Grave Digger's conceptual medieval records of the nineties with a few more symphonic and gothic soundscapes. This project would have deserved much more attention but was perhaps hold back due to the underwhelming production and the rather unknown musicians involved back then. Anyone who likes heavy, power and symphonic metal and appreciates conceptual releases about legends, mythologies and tales should certainly give this good output a few spins.

Final rating: 70%

Darkwell is an Austrian-German gothic metal quintet that enjoyed some moderate success in the early years of the millennium before separating for five years and quietly reuniting in recent years. Metatron is probably the band's most commercially successful record and the only one that features extraordinary singer Stephanie Luzie who can also be seen on the cover artwork for the album and the promotional single.

The music can be described as gothic metal with simple groove metal and nu metal riffs, occasional electronic and symphonic elements and charismatic, elegant and operatic vocals. There were quite a few bands like this one around in the early years of the millennium but the unique vocals make Darkwell one of the more memorable acts. Highlights include the atmospheric, dreamy and enchanting title track ''Metatron'' and the diversified and playful ''Crown of Thorns'' with its enhanced folk and symphonic keyboard sounds.

I'm however not completely sold on the tunes with excessive electronic sound effects such as promotional single ''Strange'' with its weird introduction and ''The Machine'' with its darkwave and industrial soundscapes.

It's a pity that Darkwell wouldn't release another album for twelve years and eventually lost all its momentum. Metatron might not be an exceptional record but it's a creative, diversified and entertaining gothic metal album that showed promising potential. Stephanie Luzie would go on to be the lead singer of symphonic gothic metal band Atargatis that would also only release two records that are however worth to be checked out. It would be amazing to hear her unique vocals again in a new project in the near future.

Final rating: 70%

Heaven & Hell's The Devil You Know marked the third reunion between influential singer Ronnie James Dio and drummer Vinnie Appice with Black Sabbath masterminds Geezer Butler and Tony Iommi. This promising new chapter in their careers was cut short by Ronnie James Dio's illness and death only four years into the creation of this new band. This shows that time is precious and shouldn't be spent arguing but creating your own legacy. This line-up could have achieved so much more throughout the years but one should be grateful for the four records these four musicians were able to put together in three decades after all.

Perhaps those tragic circumstances have clouded the evaluation of this slightly overrated album. My first impressions back in the days were actually rather negative. The songwriting is repetitive and even bland at times. The riffs on several songs sound repetitive to a point that they become exchangeable. The rhythm section is solid at best but often fails to stand out and leave a significant mark. Even the great vocal patterns often sound the same. Optimistic reviewers might call this consistency while it's actually a lack of creativity. It almost feels as if the songwriting had been rushed. It might have benefitted from leaving it alone, rediscovering and finetuning it for better results.

Two tracks manage however to stand out and have also grown as time went by. First single ''Bible Black'' is a haunting track that cannot only be described as doom metal but checks all the cases for gothic metal as well. The song is slow, melancholy and emotional as it's carried by dramatic vocals, gloomy acoustic guitars in the outstanding overture and thunderous riffs in the main part. The song is best enjoyed on a rainy autumn night in a cold room lit with black patchouli candles.

Another highlight right at the heart of the album is the playful ''Rock and Roll Angel'' that convinces with several songwriting ideas that walk off the beaten path. This is the only song on the record that features some heartfelt melodies that don't inspire the usual doom and gloom. The smooth middle section with blues solos laid over appeasing guitar melodies has just the right length to unfold all its magic. The vocals are rather catchy for once and might even inspire to sing along. The acoustic guitar closure gives the diversified song a timeless campfire atmosphere. This song might sound slightly puzzling at first contact but the different parts slowly start fitting together as the track starts to grow.

The album features a few more decent songs that can't however reach the quality of the aforementioned highlights. Overall, the record suffers from numerous fillers that fail to grow and leave a deeper impression. In the end, what had been marketed as one of the biggest reunions of the decade in the metal scene wasn't as outstanding in retrospective as its dramatic circumstances might have indicated. Heaven & Hell's The Devil You Know is a solid to good doom metal album with a few gothic stylistics that includes two outstanding tracks that have stood the test of time. Aside of its ambitious start and heartbreaking ending, the most remarkable thing about this band and its only studio album is the wonderful cover artwork that would make for an astonishing flag, poster or t-shirt motive.

Final rating: 70%