Germany’s death/thrash act Messticator is a relatively new act formed with former and ex- members of various other German thrash and death metal bands I am not familiar with, like Embers of Flesh and Devarium. Total Mastery is their second album, following up 2022s Forthcoming Revelation.  As they all do, the promo materials tell me this new album is “faster, harder, and even less willing to compromise than its predecessor”. 

I haven’t heard the predecessor, so I can’t speak to that, but the promo materials also say the band “is still skillfully balancing on the edge of death and thrash metal”. And after spending some time with Total Mastery, that is a spot-on description.

There are some clear influences at play here; the opening throes of introductory instrumental “The Pit Awaits” as well as “Mass Human Extinction” reek of Hypocrisy’s slower The Fourth Dimension while later-ish tracks, and the real opener “The Pit Slayer” and the next track “High Ground” as well as tracks like “Ruins of Reason”, recall Hypocrisy’s faster, thrashier melodeath numbers. So yeah, I’m hearing a lot of melodic death metal here, but the burlier, heavier kind, not the more wispy, Gothenburg dual-layered In Flames style.

But then I also get moments of German Dew Scented’s, snarling death/thrash (“One Shot Kill”, “Skeletal Thorns”, “The Tyrant’s Scepter”), and even some riffs you might hear on an Amon Amarth record (“Bloodsport”, “Deathtouch”). None of it is particularly original, but it’s enjoyable, well delivered, and well produced by Timo Hocke (Mantar, Downfall of Gaia).

The only downside is the album’s 51-minute run time, which is a tad long, and the last song, “Cougar Claws (Return of the Leathermilf)”, which I guess continues a character/song from the first album. It sounds and feels like a cover song, with a heavy metal vibe, that doesn’t jive with the rest of the album. I can appreciate the band showing their more humorous side, just not sure if this is it. A simple cover song would have been better, but I’m just some internet hack- you do you Messticator!

[Visit the band's website]

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