The Italian four-piece debuts with nine compositions moving to and fro between Thrash, Alternative metal and Indie rock sometimes sounding like the latest Metallica, Incubus, Rage Against The Machine, Therapy? or Helmet depending on the compositions, with a vocalist heavily influenced by his presence behind the microphone of a Metallica tribute band, occasionally hindered by his thick accent and inherent lack of incisiviness in the highs and mids. A professional and almost flawless recording at Talamanca's Nadir Music studios helps the band when it remains too static in its mid-tempos. Luckily this doesn't happen often, as the majority of the songs contain diverse elements and styles and differ in unexpected ways (like "Whispered" where the vocals are replaced by whistling before the conclusion). Last but not least, I'm one who reads all infos and lyrics in a booklet if they're included, but Total Empty have decided to include only the refrains, which is another small disappointment. I have nothing personal against Total Empty and I bet they worked hard to find concerts and have this record published, but I feel they would have reached farther by a really suitable singer, yet I pay attention to the positive aspects of the album which are a strong sense of groove, the sogwriting variety allowing fun from beginning to end. At the same time I'm aware that "Planktoon" isn't destined to a large audience, simply because it can't satisfy people listening to one or two genres most of the time (the largest audience), but only those who crave for crossover outfits.