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Prologue |
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After an EP with a slightly different line-up here comes the first full-length, a brief album lasting just a little longer than 26 minutes from the Bavarian trio defining themselves as Speed/Thrash Metal. As we'll see later there's much more to that blend as one would easily predict.
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Package |
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The versions in my hands are a digibook (a slim digipack CD) and a vinyl, the first accompanied by a 12-page booklet, equipped with a sleeve for the disc and one for the booklet. The vinyl instead only has one sheet. Along with them Wolf J also kindly supplied me with a few stickers and flyers about the album release and the current live dates. |
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Visual aspect |
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Starting from the front cover we can see the title of the album, the band's logo and a painting by Venezuelan artist Jesus Lhysta (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1353733501813477&set=a.116987698821403) portraying the skull of a gigantic carnivore lamb, far larger than human skulls piled at its sides. It represents mud oozing from the soul as well as the band's monicker of course. Inside the digipack and on its back the same theme is reprised, but with an enlargement of the skull at pages 2 and 4. In the third the front cover artwork is depicted again, as well as on the pocket containing the disk. On the back the titles of the 7 tracks and the references of the CD as a product and the label ones are shown. All the package of the CD (bar the disc) and the vinyl (bar the central part of the black sleeve containing the platter) are in paper, following a zero plastic use and consumption policy. The disc comprises the front cover artwork in full. The booklet begins with the first page repeating the front cover artwork, the inner pages include the lyrics on a black and white background, as well as a detail enlarged from the front cover. Other pages exhibit colour photos of the group's members sided by a a page in black and white with the enlargement of a human skull seen earlier. The penultimate page displays athanklist, info about the tracks production and lastly the label's contacts. The last page portrays the enlarged human skull in colours plus the references of the label and product. The vinyl represents the same artwork mentioned before, of course larger, with the sheet containing the lyrics, in this case more readable. The first 4 tracks are on the first side, and the remaining 3 on the B side. |
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Trivia |
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The get-out guitar solo on "Snakebottled", the last song composed by Teeth Of Lamb, was delivered by Max Mayhem from Evil Invaders. |
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Lyrics |
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Engineering and quality sound |
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There's difference to some degree between the sound of the vinyl and the CD, but as usual I prefer the cleanness and louder impact of the digital format. The drums were recorded by Wolf J. and Jacob Lisotte at the Teeth Of Lamb headquarters, while the mixing and mastering were performed by Torsten Sauerbrey at the Metal Sound Studio situated in Osterode/Lerbach. No digital amps or keyboards were used on this record. The guest guitar solo by Max Mayhem was reamped at the Teeth Of Lamb recording studio. Although the recording isn't bad at all, I would have preferred the bass lines louder in the mixing in order for that to be hearable more often. |
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Track-by-track musical analysis |
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Value |
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Available versions |
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Kernkraftritter Records has made two versions so far, one in vinyl and one on CD, both with the same tracks but not with the same sounds, because the vinyl master was cut a bit differently. Of course it's also available on digital versions on the label's Bandcamp pages as well as other digital platforms. Personally, I find products under 30 minutes of length to be considered EPs rather than full-lengths, but maybe I'm being a little pedantic. That's why I hope that one day "Soul Gutter" will be released in a version that will contain bonus tracks that didn't make it to the album, if any. |
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Conclusion |
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There is nothing more German Metal than "Soul Gutter" and I mean that mostly in a positive way. The only aspect that I found hard to assimilate on the first listens were the Helloween-like parts, not because they sound retro but because they sound slightly too happy for my taste when they are so close to a dark and primitive series of musical structures so strongly in contrast. Besides that, we're in front of organic true Metal with a very good guitar work that shreds and kills. Disconnect yourselves from your phones and get into the pit! |
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MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - November 12, 2022 |
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Contacts: E-mail:
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