Squealer - The Circle Shuts 2008

Tracks
1. The Sources Of Ignition
2. Mask Of The Betrayer
3. New Saviour
4. Grey
5. Godlike
6. These Urges
7. Thrasher
8. Martyrs Of The Half Moon
9. I Came For You
10. Once Fallen
11. The Circle Shuts

Band:
Norbert Vornam - Vocals (Mortal Passion, Mind-Ashes, Complex 7, Still No Order, Coverkill)
Lars Döring - Guitars
Michael Schiel - Guitars
Michael Kaspar - Bass
Martin Buchwalter - Drums (Perzonal War)

Discography:
Ready to Fight'1987
One Beer Too Much'1988
Human Traces'1990
Make Your Day'1992
Wrong Time, Wrong Place?'1995
The Prophecy'1999
Made for Eternity'2000
Under the Cross'2002
Confrontation Street'2006

Links:
squealer.de
myspace
afm records

The squealing guys from Germany are back again with another record, and this time they are really back as they have ditched the A.D. ending of their name. Of course A.D. refers to the death of Andy Allendörfer who died in a car accident in 2005. It was a black day for the band and it delayed the release of the bands record in 2006 for apparent reasons. Now things seem to be looking better for the band and the A.D. is gone and the circle is apparently closing.

Maybe there are some squealing about the band going on around, or maybe I am just making terrible wordplay. Musically it is thrash metal we are dealing with here, some parts are squealing of some influences from the bay area style from the 80s. For you who do not know about this style I can only say that it is heavy, powerful with strong baselines, powerful riffing and drumming, powerful music plain and simple.

I have a little problem with this thing AFM tend to do, what is the reason for splitting the tracks so that the record in the end will have 100 tracks? it annoys my iPod which at some places tent to make strange squeaky noises or just jumps and weird stops in the music which I don’t like to hear, I’d much rather have the voiceover like some other companies, just keep it to few words and not anything too annoying.

With that said we can move further. Even though this is thrash metal I like this, it is a well performed record all the way through, no low points throughout the record. The production is perfectly suited to what we have here, it creates the roughness the music is supposed to give and it creates a nice feel without feeling overproduced or unproduced.

The second part of the record is better than the first, from track 64 and to the end of this promo record I find the best songs. The beginning is quite good but it just doesn’t fly but if you stay into it you will get the reward in the end. The song called Martyrs of the Half Moon marks this lift off and it is a memorable track that starts this lift off and then it continues. Tracks 82-90 Once Fallen is the best of the record and it is a really good track where I really like the squeaky door thing they have going on throughout the song.

Even though I sound really positive about the record it is not quite as good as my many positive words might indicate, it is a good record but the start is nothing but good and quite indifferent and for me that lowers the grade a bit, the record is still above average but not that much more.

Well, all in all it is a thrash metal album that doesn’t end up in the thrash immediately.

HHHHHHH

Written on 10-02-08