Who Dominates Who?

The sophomore effort from German thrashers Accuser improves upon their atrocious 1987 debut The Conviction immensely in terms of sound, production, and musicianship. The band are more honed in on their craft by this release and start to cement an identity for themselves separating them sound wise from the rest of the thrash world in 1989. This record features seven tracks with only one of them clocking in at under 5 minutes and the songs have many twists and turns in them providing the listener with many unpredictable tempo shifts. "Who Dominates Who?" has a very mechanical sounding production/atmosphere and almost sounds staticy at times, though the band in my opinion has always been plagued with less than stellar production throughout their classic run of recordings from 1987-1991 before jumping on the groove bandwagon that seemed to take place post 1992 with the success of Pantera.

All of the songs here are not necessarily bad just a bit boring at times though very technical and precise they just don't really stick and aren't to memorable as they just drag along at times. This record is a riff fest though, every song has many tight and progressive esque riffs squeezed into them with a varying degree of different tempos and really impressive harmonized riffs. The guitar solos here are also really good as a lot of the German thrash metal scene didn't have the most gifted lead guitarists (with the exception of a few in bands like Destruction, Depressive Age, and Mekong Delta) compared to the U.S. thrash metal movement during the golden era back in the 80's/early 90's. The rhythm section is tight but very dense and the drums are quite sterile sounding. The bass is kind of low in the mix but is still heard throughout the record mainly during the beginning of the opening track "Master of Disaster" but other than that there really isn't anything special about it.

Worst part about this album for me is the vocals as they make this album way more boring than it should be. Thoms just kind of snarls his way through a lot of the tracks in a hardcore punkish type of vibe as he did on their debut and really diminishes the leap in musicianship the band took from their debut to Who Dominates Who?. Thoms vocals almost sound robot-ish and mechanical in a weird way on this release which isn't terrible but comes off quite odd in a non unique type of way. While Thoms vocals are by far not the worst I've heard in the thrash metal genre they seem to be the only part of the band that make the record significantly less enjoyable than it could be.

Overall Who Dominates Who? is still a solid slab of thrash metal from Germany and shows a band on the rise from where they started but just fell short of reaching the heights of some of their contemporaries at the time. Had this band had a better singer to match their evolving sound during their thrashy era of albums from 1987-1991 they may have rose up to the heights of some of the other more successful German thrash acts of the time. Nonetheless Accuser was surely one of the better bands to come out of the German thrash scene during the 80's/early 90's and Who Dominates Who? is in my opinion their best and my favorite offering of theirs throughout their lengthy catalog. Would highly recommend this for those looking for German thrash outside the "Teutonic big 4".

Accuser, Accuser… the unsung heroes of the German metal scene. I don’t know a single metalhead whose all-time favourite metal act is Accuser… I know people who worship at the altar of Paradox, Risk, Exumer, Mekong Delta, Deathrow… even Vendetta if you like; but I haven’t met anyone who has chosen the band under scrutiny here as his/her idols. It beats me why provided that they possessed all the requisite tools to become major players on the field, from the very beginning.

As the first Accuser album I heard was “Repent” in 1992, I can’t possibly imagine how the fans had felt, those who were exposed to the band’s speed/thrashing debut “The Conviction” five years earlier. With said debut equal parts Rage’s “Reign of Fear”, Angel Dust’s “Into the Dark Past”, and Destruction’s “Infernal Overkill”, it was difficult to envisage which direction the guys would choose to pursue on future endeavours. Well, they didn’t have to wait for very long in order to hear the answer to their wonderings which the “Experimental Errors” mini-album handsomely provided a few months later. No speed metal left, the sound had become much more complex and heavier our friends obviously enamored with the last two (at the time) Metallica behemoths (“… And Justice for All”, above all). Although the Germans’ approach was more formulaic and less diverse, it still presented a good potent sound with a potential to be explored further. Nothing truly experimental, and nothing particularly erroneous either…

Although I have every single Accuser effort, I rarely sit down to listen to them. I by all means like them, even the controversial groovy post-thrashers “Reflections” and “Taken by the Throat”, but somehow I don’t consider them a regular “menu” on the table. The main reason why I recalled them a few years back was when I saw the album reviewed here featured in the top 40 of the best thrash metal albums of all times in the Terrorizer Thrash Metal Exclusive edition; and it was even listed before Sodom’s “Agent Orange”. I by no means view the Terrorizer folks the most objective lot when it comes to thrash, but since I agreed with quite a few of their choices from this poll, I decided to give the Accuser opus another listen since it was the only one of all the 50 entries that I couldn’t quite remember with all the details.

So with “Experimental Errors” the band turned towards the Bay-Area at the same time when Vendetta decided to do the same with “Go and Live… Stay and Die”. Accuser begged to dominate this rivalry, though, and this is how the album reviewed here came to light. It established a template that the band have been following faithfully all the way to the present moment excluding the mentioned post-thrashy staggerings from the mid-90’s. The formula sounded fresh and even kind of innovative here, and this is the reason why this opus is the guys’ finest hour. “Master of Disaster” is an awesome opener with its fast, ripping guitars and a frequent change of the rhythmic patterns, a tool Paradox also epitomized on “Heresy” the same year as both albums are close sound-alikes throughout, the Accuser opus coming with more sterile, more clinical riffage. “Who Pulls the Wire” follows the same path with marginally more technical fretwork the latter remaining for “Elected to Suffer” which also introduces heavier slower sections. “Symbol of Hate” has an intriguing lead-driven beginning with stylish bouncy riffs following suit, but afterwards it’s business as usual the guys switching onto their hyper-active approach, the fretwork remaining a tad flashier serving a few devious moments along the way with choppier breaks and more technical displays. The title-track features crunchier guitar work, but the speedy crescendos haven’t been disrupted too much as the sharp lashing riffs keep flying around until “Bastard” hits, a decidedly more diverse proposition with a heavy doomy inauguration which sets a steam-rolling mid-paced configuration to be followed all the way to the end. “Called to the Bench” brings back both the faster-paced and the more technical execution, the longest composition here with more elaborate progressive build-ups and a few striking technical knots.

The guys had moved away a bit from the Metallica influence as the adherence to speed is just too obvious, and in this train of thought this effort also resembles other moshers like Death Angel’s “The Ultra-Violence” and Dark Angel’s “Leave Scars”. Variety isn’t exactly the name of the game, but one has to give it to the guys for holding on to a steady ferocious style that didn’t sound like the exploits of the Holy Three in their homeland; neither did it follow the speed metal patterns that were also quite prevalent over there, and which the debut “courted” with caution. At the same time, it didn’t shoot them into the spotlight, and not only because things started changing on the music horizon a few years later. The band just chose to follow the formula unflinchingly without many deviations, if any at all, on subsequent albums, and “Double Talk” didn’t sound as appealing any more two years down the line, especially in the company of similarly-styled, albeit superior, more meticulously constructed offerings like Heathen’s “Victims of Deception” and Dark Angel’s “Time does not Heal”.

Since the reformation in 2008 things haven’t changed drastically as their highly energetic retro style has been brought back on a string of albums, the culmination reached on the excellent “Diabolic”. It’s good to know that Accuser are around, the thrash metal scene kind of feels safer with their intense rifforamas keeping the fans alive and moving; world domination continues to elude them, but the underground has already preserved a firm spot for them in the “reliant metal stalwarts” pantheon.

It fairly soon became apparent that the third release of Accu§er made one thing clear. The band remained true to its style and the guys were still writing extraordinary lyrics. Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall, they were fulminating against this "Symbol of Hate" in a lyrically appealing manner. One might think that this was a matter of course in West Germany and it does not require lengthy comment. Far from it! The social democrats had stopped talking about the German partition and the conservatives did also not believe in a reunion, although they made pretty speeches on this subject from time to time. In the light of this situation, Accu§er´s dedication to this issue was very remarkable. Retrospectively it can be said that they had clairvoyant abilities ("Hey you people behind the wall / Just hear my call / Blow up the symbol of hate / It´s your fate, so don´t wait"). Too bad that the composition suffered from an insufficient chorus. Unfortunately, this was a general problem of the album.

Even worse, the entire second half of the full-length failed to leave a lasting impression on the listener, maybe with the exception of the chorus of the title track. But generally speaking, the songs after "Elected to Suffer" lacked of exciting riffs, outstanding hooks and memorable sequences. They were fast, courageously performed and, unfortunately, interchangeable and mediocre. The absence of a certain charisma could not be overlooked and the necessary degree of dynamic was missing. Especially the final track lacked of gripping parts.

The highlights of "Who Dominates Who?" were placed at the beginning of the album. With more or less original riffs and varied song patterns, the band started in a combative manner. These tracks continued the series of almost progressively designed pieces. Of course, to begin the album with some calm guitar tones was no exclusive idea of Accu§er. Nevertheless, it was interesting to hear how the slightly menacing opener developed positively. Fast parts met well installed breaks and the big portion of riffs, licks and lines compensated for the average chorus. Although the solo part was a little bit too long, this track did not reveal serious deficiencies. Roughly the same could be said of "Elected to Suffer" with its fairly hysterical chorus. But Accu§er also presented a very compact tune which stood in contrast to its almost overlong neighbours. "Who Pulls the Wire?" proved that the band was able to create a song that came straight to the point. Equipped with stormy riffs and different rhythms, this four-minute piece developed into the highlight of the full-length.

The rasping guitars and the dedicated yet monotonous shouting of lead vocalist Eberhard Weyel dominated the production. From a technical perspective, it did not fall back behind the recording results of comparable (German) bands. Nevertheless, I missed the debut´s charm of imperfection. Accu§er showed an ambitious approach, from a technical point of view as well as in musical terms. It´s hard for me to say that they failed to convince all along the line.

Say what you want about the band's consistently awful cover images, but at least through the 80s (up to 1991's Double Talk) they had the consistent theme of some Ultron looking robot mascot, first through just a glimpse and then out in the open. Here the mechanical thing is clasped in a homoerotic grapple with some muscled entity that represents 'mankind' as they fight for the Earth...well, it's a guess. From the previous year's Experimental Errors EP, I was expecting a fuller shift into straight thrashing territory, and with Who Dominates Who?, this is exactly what Accu§er delivered. Gone were most of the traces of melodic speed from the prior album, those have largely been manifest here through the leads, and damned if the leads aren't generally great.

The album also sounds fantastic, the best production of their career until arguably they arrived at their new, underwhelming 'comeback' album Agitation in 2010. The compositions are rich with riffs, and the mix really lends itself to the sort of impact bands like Destruction, Kreator and Metallica all had at their best. The vocals are like hatchets cutting through the finely plotted riffing, and the opening tracks "Master of Disaster" and "Who Pulls the Wire" both dump the band's previous albums on their asses. "Elected to Suffer" slows down the pace to some good, rock inflected thrashing, but "Symbol of Hate" and "Who Dominates Who?" offer unabated, high velocity thrashing with clinical, precision riffs, and the fun doesn't stop there. About the one criticism I hold of some of the later tracks (including the bonus material) is that they don't always pull off their length. For example, "Called to the Bench" is 8:22, and has a lot going on, but it's not always positive or interesting.

Still, for a band like Accu§er, who have never been able to breach the success barrier, this is extremely well written. The tones are punchy, the vocals pissed off, and the compositional skills not in question. Who Dominates Who? does strangely lack the ability to create memorable chorus parts or truly distinctive riffs, and it doesn't really improve or degrade with age, but it's tight enough to be placed just above the level of 'average'. Had the hooks been as undeniable as the level of talent going into their creation, this would probably have taken the band reasonably further than any other album in their career. As it stands, this is probably the place to start if you're interested in hearing them. The Conviction wasn't bad, and it's got a stronger melodic sensibility to it, with more classic metal hooks coursing through the thrash starved veins, but this sophomore was and remains their strongest output.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

... and we all know how terrible that can be. I mean if you're going for a particular thrash sound to rip off, can you at least go for something better, like Bonded by Blood or Pleasure to Kill?

In any case, I'm having a really hard time developing a real opinion about this album, because it's just so fucking generic. It kinda sounds like Master of Puppets, except with a more terrible drum tone. It's long... all the songs are long... none of them are particularly epic. Fortunately, there is nothing here that reflects the true abysmality of Master of Puppets (the Orions and the Things that Should not Be) - assume the whole album sounded like Battery and Disposable Heroes and Damage, Inc; now assume that, put through the riff rearranger blender, throw in more horrible production, take away most of the residual heaviness and replace it with overtones of punk. The vocalist is total punk, and at times the album sounds more like a hardcore/speedcore version of Battery. Nuclear Assault at times, except without the vicious - and crippling - thrash breaks. The first song is a competent copy of the buildup intro of Rise from the Ashes, with some awesome riffs to get everything going...

but, don't you just hate it when 90% of the memorable riffs are in the first song? Hell, in the first quarter of the first song? The blasted thing goes on for nearly eight minutes, and by the end, you don't want to ever hear about the Master of Disaster ever again...

as for the rest of the songs: I can't remember anything about the riffs. I can remember the choruses (grating as they are... "wire! who pulls the wire!"... oh shaddup!), after about 6 listens. This is not Vio-lence, where the riffs and vocal lines intertwine to be completely memorable. Here, the choruses are absurdly simple - Hell, if I tried hard enough, I could remember a Britney Spears song too - and the riffs are completely forgettable. Imagine the generic cheesy fast riffage of Damage Inc., for about 45 minutes.

Not worth owning. Go download the first track, and enjoy it for about five minutes. It all goes downhill from there.