Review: Running Death “DressAge”

Running Death “DressAge”
Punishment 18 Records

I almost missed out on this album, but thankfully a track was forwarded to me for the next Antichrist podcast and that was it, one listen and I was hooked.

This is the 2nd album for this German outfit and to be honest, they have a couple of styles and you can split the two straight down the middle.

On one half, they are a mid paced Thrash band. There’s a slight technical element to what they do and I think there’s a major Megadeth influence going on.

The other side of their sound is to do with the vocals. I don’t think Simon Bihlmayer has a particularly catchy voice, but the style he adopts… well he wraps his vocals around the melody of the music, if that makes sense. Wherever the melody goes, his vocals follow.

I guess it’s a very simple concept, but it works brilliantly when you don’t have a naturally melodic voice… he sounds like he has a slight gargle of whiskey before he does his vocals.

That is, apart from the couple of songs where the band sound like Accept and Annihilator having a jam session with The Beatles… especially on Heroes Of The Hour, which has a very melodic chorus.

But overall, the only criticism I can make is when they attempt to over complicate things, like on Delusive Silence, which has way to much going on. And while my foot is still tapping along with the crazy beats, it is way too cluttered to be effective… yeah, I know you guys can play, but play to your strengths.

And their strength lies in creating catchy Thrash with a Technical/Progressive edge.

I mean this final paragraph in the nicest way possible… I don’t think Running Death will go on to achieve world domination, but this is a really good album, for the level they are at. Call it whatever you want, 2nd Tier Thrash for example… well, Running Death are the leaders of that pack. So don’t expect a mind blowing album, just a brilliant 45 minutes of extremely solid Metal.

https://www.facebook.com/runningdeath/