The Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany is quite well known for the plethora of metal bands that it spews out quite regularly. Most famous amongst them, of course, being two of the Big Teutonic 4, namely Sodom (Gelsinkirchen) and Kreator (Essen). Now, we can add another thrash metal act to the list of acts from the region. This one is called Corporal Shred, from Essen. Some people, who follow our Bangalore local boys Kryptos closely, will know that Corporal Shred was on the billing last year, when Kryptos toured Germany with Death Angel. Because I don’t, I didn’t know about this band until I met the bassist, who also happens to be a friend of mine at Party.San Open Air 2016.
The album is quite political, which is what thrash should be all about, but somehow in recent times, has also been unusually sidelined. The album starts out with a fast paced track called Two Faced Class and is followed by Blind Fighting The Blind. The latter hits out the the sickening state of affairs in Germany recently, with the rise of the right wing parties and people marching against other people who apparently do no belong because they come from afar. The Forsaken, if I am not mistaken, is about friendship that has reached its end and Life Online is a candid song about how everyone is too attached to their second life, i.e social media. The title track, Dressed In Blood is a track written about soldiers sent into battles to die.
The album is great in bits, but does not set a high score to beat itself. Songs like Dressed In Black, Rise Of Inglorious Heroes, Reserved Silence, The World Will Be Taken and The Council are what hold this album together and are clearly much better than the rest of the album. Well structured and laced with nice, meaty solos, these are the tracks your should listen to. The rest of the album is comparably less intense but that does not mean that this album is lacking. It could have been much, much better in my opinion. Lyrically, the album is not necessarily strong, but that can be forgiven as technically, everything else is strong and on point. Catchy riffs and well laid out drums are the basis of this album. Given my general dislike of clean vocals, they sound a tad bit too generic and could do with a little bit of variation. Overall, Dressed In Black that would certainly sound good live and deserves a good spin at home or in your car.