Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Paradox
Label: AFM Records
Released: 2009
Runtime: 48:28
Rating: 4.5/5
Paradox! Yet another band from the generation of Euro thrash giants of German descent, whose roots reach deep into the heart of the eighties. Why the name Paradox gets dropped less often than those of their countrymen Sodom, Kreator and Destruction isn’t hard to explain. They just weren’t destined to put out that many albums and dig themselves in as part of the Teutonic Euro thrash metal scene. And that’s actually a good thing, because Paradox stayed true to their roots, to their heritage, and never “overate” themselves into various experiments that could have pulled them away from the core point of their very own legacy.
Thrash metal of the Paradox variety doesn’t really need that. These days it’s usually one of two things. Either we’re witnessing releases that do more harm than good – like the new Metallica album, for example – or a whole heap of reunited Bay Area thrash metal stories that, luckily, live up to the greatness delivered by the legendary albums from the turn of the eighties into the nineties (e.g. the new releases from Heathen and Testament). Paradox belong in that second camp. Alongside the typically German-sharpened production, Paradox don’t hide their Bay Area influences on “Riot Squad” either, and on top of that they add a pinch of melodicism, typical of the Western European mindset.
What’s interesting is that the band recently went through a complete lineup overhaul. Of the original members, only vocalist Charly Steinhauer is left in Paradox today. Guitarist Kai Pasemann of Declaration Of Dependance is the only member with whom Steinhauer revived Paradox for the album “Electrify” (2008), after an eight-year break since the band’s third studio album “Collision Course” came out in 2000. But it was enough for the original magic and energy of this band to survive, carry over from “Electrify” and get built upon with the new album. “Riot Squad,” with all its quality and uncompromising force, is especially a real confirmation that the lineup shuffle before “Electrify” brought stability and creative energy into the camp. That also gives an unambiguous answer to why the band needed just one year between releases to put out two excellent studio albums.
“Riot Squad” brings together ten sturdy, robust wreckers that stand shoulder to shoulder and never wobble on quality. Every song is played with the required fury, hunger and sinister bite. No slow songs, let alone balladry. Paradox know only one guiding principle: merciless sonic terror!
The production on this album is once again optimized. What stands out most is the incredible drum sound. Especially the pounding of the double bass pedals, which bite through the album’s running time with real commitment. They roll along with relentless rage. They’re the engine of the ultrasonic speed Paradox are capable of reaching. That goes above all for the opener Suburban Riot Squad and right behind it Hollow Peace, then the closing Psychofficial, or Rise In Rank, No Place To Survive and Evolution Reset. Snapping every vertebra in your neck with “Riot Squad” is really no great feat. The contrast between the venomously wound-up guitar riffing – it’s unbelievable that all that extremely voluminous, noisy pounding and radiating comes from a single guitar – and the witty drum work is brilliantly highlighted in the masterful production. You can also easily make out the excellent bass lines, whose rattling and ripping effectively dose out the dangerous, flammable contents of the “Riot Squad” goods. Rise In Rank, a thoroughly thrash/speed metal wrecking ball, is one of those that emphasize this contrast most effectively. With a high melodic yield in its opening section. Rise In Rank is easily one of the most devastating songs here, and afterwards you’ll need to swallow a whole box of aspirin to get back to normal daily functioning.
Charly Steinhauer is a crazy vocalist who doesn’t skimp on furious barking and holds nothing back. A song like Hollow Peace in particular conjures up a younger James Hetfield (Metallica) before your eyes, using even more of his lung capacity behind the mic. Scandalous! As a guitarist, Pasemann has seasoned all the transitions, which are mostly built on semitone-shaped guitar phrases. He pulled that off with inventive guitar embellishments. Along the way he often reaches for tasteful motifs of fast picking over the guitar riffs. With this the guy proves his experience. His guitar solos are just one more piece of poetry on this album.
Even in the moments when the band eases off the speed a tad, as on Riptide – a sort of cross between a Painkiller-era Judas Priest riff and the best you can inherit from the Bay Area thrash metal movement – the rolling drums never stop following the devastating torpedoing of the double bass drum. Then there’s Nothingness, whose intro motif breathes a sinister air into the album. This song contains the most melodic motif among the choruses served up on this album. Planet Terror, just under seven minutes long, boasts the richest motifs and most variety, driven above all by its instrumental passages (the first of them features real crossfire between bass and guitar). The solo is once again a true gem of the song, and the wickedly constructed transition from verse to pre-chorus is especially interesting.
The feeling a listener gets when the album “Riot Sguad” is spinning in the CD player is extreme, noisy intensity all over the place. Sonic terrorists of the Paradox kind, who pair the aggression of unleashed noise with this much quality playing, with witty guitar phrases and colorful guitar ornaments, and with a perfect collision of the rhythm section in contrasting harmony with the stamping of guitar phrases, are awfully hard to find today. Either bands of a similar vintage, who once did this with their left hand, are creatively burnt out today, or (especially younger bands) they just don’t have enough knowledge, talent, feel and experience (I’m pointing my finger at you, metalcore screamers!). With “Riot Squad,” Paradox not only confirm that defiance has more than paid off for the band, but also that it’s still possible today to squeeze out a thrash metal album that comes close to musical-expressive perfection. No less and no more! With faith in defiance and in keeping up the tradition of the best that old-school thrash metal brought and enthroned! Let’s just hope the guys get out on some kind of tour, so we can one day enjoy the magic created in the studio live too.
Lineup
Charly Steinhauer – vocals
Kai Pasemann – guitar
Olly Keller – bass
Roland Jahoda – drums
Production
Achim Koehler
Track list
1. Suburban Riot Squad
2. Hollow Peace
3. Riptide
4. Rise In Rank
5. Evolution Reset
6. Nothingness
7. No Place To Survive
8. Dream Hero
9. Planet Terror
10. Psychofficial
