Back in 2011, I questioned the need for another Lock Up album in Necropolis Transparent, and resultantly, got my ass handed to me by one of the year’s best grindcore albums. Well, the band is if anything consistent in both their lack of productivity (3 albums in 15 years) and kick ass-ness when they do show up, as 7 years later we have another rip roaring album from this super group of grind.

Kevin Sharp (ex Brutal Truth, Venomous Concept) replaces Tomas Lindberg as the vocalist joining the veteran line up of Nick Barker (ex Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth), Shane Embury (Napalm Death) and Anton Reisenegger (Criminal, Brujeria, Pentagram) who need no introduction, but the result is almost identical.

Sharp’s vocals are a little more varied than Lindberg’s, also not quite as seething, but they get the job done against the backdrop of the album’s 14 song, 41  minute salvo. The Napalm Death/Terrorizer influence is still the primary focus with fierce, slicing power cords, blast beats and punky backbone. Standout tracks like “The Plague That Stalks the Darkness”, “Desolation Architect”, “Instruments of Armageddon”, “Sunk”, “Mind Fight” and  “Secret Parallel World” are rabid, foaming at the mouth ragers in every sense of  the classic grindcore sound. “Foul from the Pure” and “Void”  initially slows things down a bit but keep a searing intensity.

As with the last album, there is a slower, Mid era Napalm Death, industrialized number in the 5 minute title track, an early, jarring respite in the album’s otherwise relentless onslaught of blistering,  grindcore goodness.

See you guys again with another vocalist in another 7- years?

[Visit the band's website]

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