Fatal Embrace - Dark Pounding Steel (2006)

Once the incredibly Slayer-like charge of "Born in Blasphemy" begins, you know you're either going to be in 80s speed/thrash metal paradise or bored to tears by yet another spike and leather imitator, but really this what Fatal Embrace were already up to for many years. Dark Pounding Steel is their third album, and it trades in a little of the atmosphere of its predecessors The Ultimate Aggression and Legions of Armageddon for a little more unbridled speed and chaos. All caution is thrown to the wind as the band channel their thrills into the dark, pounding substance of its title, and if you seek the halcyon days of blinding hostility that characterized Sodom, Tankard, Slayer, Kreator, etc, then you could probably be tapped to join this band.

Of course, there's nothing remotely interesting or innovative occurring on this record, so it relies entirely on nostalgia and the actual formation of its chorus sections and searing guitars to get by. Unfortunately, while both exist here, neither are ever very standout on the quicker cuts. So "Born in Blasphemy" and "Assassination" both barrel by without anything that sticks to the conscience. "Don't Sacrifice My Soul" is slower and cooler, with some clean guitars perking up the doomed atmosphere, before it transforms into a Sodom-like mid paced thrasher, but then it's straight back into quick mode with "Storming In My Mind" and "Evil Dead". The latter is quite a decent Death cover, with its hellish melodies and good, bloodied vocals and blitzing velocity, but it takes a few tracks before something else of its quality arrives, "In Black Years of Pain" which has at least a few exciting, busy riffs and off the cuff leads. "Dark Pounding Steel" itself ends the album, with a Kreator and Sodom like sequence of riffs, and this too could be numbered among the better songs.

If this album came out in 1987, then it might have whipped up a storm among the legions of Slayer and Dark Angel fans, but though it nails the authentic production values to the period, it's just not that interesting. The first two albums were a little less ballistic, sure, but they were also better to listen straight through, just as in tune with the nostalgia being summoned here. Dark Pounding Steel obvious had a slightly higher profile, being put out through Pure Steel, and it ended up getting the band a deal with Metal Blade for their follow-up The Empires of Inhumanity (slightly superior to this), but I can't help but feel the band peaked earlier if they just keep up this charmless level of voracity.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

http://www.fatal-embrace.net/

Fatal Embrace - Legions of Armageddon (2002)

Fatal Embrace weren't pretty, and they weren't very original, but with the debut The Ultimate Aggression, they managed to drop a decent homage to their German thrashing forefathers, with nods to Venom, Slayer and Bathory. A few years later, they swapped labels (something they've done on each consecutive album) and released Legions of Armageddon, which follows the same course as the debut, only faster, meaner, and just an elbow's room superior. The vocals are pretty great here, often veering into primordial death metal territory, but the real treat is the Harris Johns production, which is nearly as legendary and balanced as his classic 80s arsenal (in particular I was reminded of Sodom's Agent Orange).

The catch is that the sophomore has a fluctuating 'peaks and valleys' quality. The warring sample of "Wishmaster's Revenge" tears into "666 (Massacre in Paradise)", which is a fortress of tight Germanic speed riffing and bloodsoaked, death vocals; and the more measured thrashing of "Legions of Armageddon" itself. But by then, you've descended from the infernal clutches of the hellish heights to the more flat plane of "Mentally Perversion", which doesn't have much to it except some standard, forgettable riffs. "Returned to Hell" and "Trapped in a Violent Brain" pick the pace back up to a violent explosion, the latter with a lot of Slayer influence, and then we run smack into another average track, "Spellbound by the Devil", with only 1-2 exciting riffs. The following "Depraved to Black" slows to a crawl, with a dark, morose opening sequence that splices off into more mediocre thrashing, but thankfully the closer "Wargods of Thrash" goes all epic on us and lives up to its title.

The songwriting is comparable but less exciting compared to Swedish bands like Witchery and Bewitched, and it lacks the feral charms of an Aura Noir, but overall it delivers on a number of fronts, especially for those craving generic occult assault thrash with a thread of authenticity needled through its viral speed. I definitely enjoy Dirk Heiland's style, brooding and angry and capable of a quality growl if the aggression merits such, and the guitars are so crisp and brutal that I'm often willing to forgive the underwhelming note sequences. But in the end, even though they write good albums that please the palette for pain and velocity, they simply don't have the structure or the resonant choruses that their influences made legendary, and thus the label of overly qualified tribute can't seem to be shaken free of their leather and bullet belts.

Verdict: Win [7.5/10]

http://www.fatal-embrace.net/

Fatal Embrace - The Ultimate Aggression (1999)

Fatal Embrace were another band, similar to Witchburner, who would form in the 90s and by the end of that decade begin to aggressively pursue a return to the blistering, occult roots of speed thrash metal that were originally manifest through Venom, Slayer, Possessed, Kreator and Sodom. There is less of a direct black metal imprint on this record than, say, Blasphemic Assault, but it pursues some of the same riffing trees and ultimately succeeds due to the sheer atmosphere it presents. Dirk Heiland's vocals sound like a hybrid of Cronos, King Fowley and Tom Angelripper, and I really enjoy the resonance they create through the mix, all thanks to just the right level of reverb.

As for the guitars, they do little more than blaze trails in tribute to their masters, and tracks like "Follow Your Nightmare" and "Under My Sadistic Reign" are hardly intricate. There are rarely patterns of notes here that deride the beaten path, so it's a pretty predictable listen. But the vocals, the atmosphere and the wild, sporadic leads go a long way towards appreciation, and the album is clearly capable of putting a smile on the face of any old schooler who was seeking more in the vein of the band's diabolic influences of the 80s. Even when the band slows to a morbid crawl in "The Last Rites" or the eerie, escalating "Nocturnal Anguish", they never bite off more than they can chew, and The Ultimate Aggression is ultimately paced very well, spending equal time on both the mid paced thrashers and bleeding speedsters to balance the listener's interest.

The album is produced very well, at least for what it offers. The guitars are good and thick, and as I've mentioned, the reverb level is perfect to make the material sound like it's bouncing at you from the cliffs of hell during a molten storm. Really, the only thing missing is just the actual songwriting (the cover of Exodus' "Bonded by Blood" is also disposable). It's good enough to stride in the shadows of the band's forebears, but never enough to actually make a name for itself. Thus, this is never an album I actually seek to experience of its own accords, but its quite satisfying for the duration. The band would continue on to bigger things, career-wise, later signing to Pure Steel and more recently to Metal Blade, but I feel that The Ultimate Aggression remains as one of their better albums. If you're hunting for a mesh of Welcome to Hell, Seven Churches, Fearless Undead Machines and Hell Awaits, you could do a lot worse than this debut.

Verdict: Win [7.25/10]

http://www.fatal-embrace.net/

Fatal Embrace - The Empires of Inhumanity (2010)

So you want to listen to some 'old school' thrash metal that isn't actually old, but you don't trust the current crop of 16 year olds out there promoting a time and lifestyle they were never actually a part of, through their patch collections and vinyl eBay auctions and grand sense of irony? Well, Germans Fatal Embrace have been performing 'retro' thrash metal since it was arguably not retro, forming around 1993 when the original scene was finally in its death throes (save for the few survivors that would bulldoze on regardless of the status quo). It's absolutely no shock that the band most resembles their Teutonic forebears like Sodom, Destruction, Tankard and Kreator (closest to Sodom of these), or the overseas menace of a Slayer or Dark Angel.

The Empires of Inhumanity is the band's fourth album in 17 years, and the band have grown into a reasonably mature riffing force. Only this time, they've got a deal with Metal Blade Records, one of the larger labels to promote the old thrash revival, and thus you could say they've been 'grandfathered' in with the younger crop, to our great delight. There is nothing astounding or original about the Germans' music, it is simply a competently executed mirror to the past, with the benefits of mixing and production standards in 2010. No, Fatal Embrace do not go out of their way to polish and over-produce their music like its a piece of the pop market, but they don't try to sound like the album was recorded in 1985 either

Much of the material the band have prepared for this release is fun, if soon forgotten, with some solid, angry riffs, wailing solos more of cause than effect, and at the center the vocals of Dirk Heiland, which seem like a mutation of Tom Angelripper, Schmier and Tom Araya, though as proven in the title track, he can also deliver some convincing death/black vocals. The question is really how much you can place aside your feelings about derivative speed/thrash and try to enjoy yourself. "Rapture for Disaster" could have just as well appeared on Pleasure to Kill or Persecution Mania, and if you seek further confirmation of such impulses, it's a fast and fitting tribute. Mid-paced tracks like "Into Your Face" and "The Prophecy" are mildly more interesting, with crisp, flowing riffs and Heiland's charismatic splatter all over the chorus lines. "Nothing to Regret" has some of my favorite, clinical feeling riffs on the entire album, and if you just want something to ball a fist to, "Another Rotten Life" feels like a composite of numerous Metallica classics being drawn up through a frothing pilsner glass.

The band also closes this record with a cover of Iron Maiden's "Killers", unobtrusive since they've already hammered out 43 minutes and 11 tracks of original content. It's a decent take, what with the major difference in the filthy vocals of Heiland. The album is well balanced, with a lot of clarity to the riffing but not making the mistake of having the vocals too far in the fore like many of the 80s records it worships. This is arguably the best yet from Fatal Embrace, though some might still prefer the heavier, blocky Tankard-on-stun feeling of the previous effort Dark Pounding Steel. It's not a great album by any means, as this has all been done and they are unlikely to displace the legendary bands that influenced them. I may not listen to it a week from now, but at least for a few hours I got my headbang on.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

http://www.fatal-embrace.net/