Perfect Progeny

These guys are one of the earliest metallers in Dutchland alongside Vulture and Thanatos, only that in their early stages they had this goofy name Mysto Dysto that automatically inclined the fanbase to not take them very seriously… which is a shame as the only full-length (“The Rules Have Been Disturbed”, 1986) produced under this moniker was a really worthy slab of catchy energetic power/speed/thrash predating the works of every single similarly-styled practitioner in their homeland.

Hybridization remnants as well as whole songs (mostly taken from the “No AIDS in Hell” demo) from this Misty… sorry, Mysto legacy were all over the debut Mandator opus which didn’t quite diversify the established three-pronged approach. Regardless of how derivative this effort sounded, the band were still ahead of everyone with two albums released in quick succession.

And the third one came about mere months after the sophomore, the one reviewed here. It becomes perfectly clear from the very first cut that this is going to be a different story; the band have jumped heads-down into the thrash wagon with all power/speedy dissipations cast aside… with just a few strokes from said opener, the title ”Stick Your Knife”, which sticks cutting sharp riffs in a most remorseless manner into the listener’s psyche, the band matching the fast-paced heroisms of Deathrow’s “Raging Steel” and Paradox’s “Product of Imagination” every bit of the way, sounding more aggressive than both. It’s not only wayward bash that’s at play here, mind you, as later on the fan will come across quite a few stylish moments, like the absolutely surreal melodic excursions on “Coition Interruptus”, a very surprising, masterful touch; or the infernally precise shreds on the progressive masterpiece “An Invisible Disease Strikes” which march-like stride is often interrupted by spasms of choppy technicality, not to mention the oddball shouty choruses.

Not much downright musical immediacy to be detected really, save for the short blitzkrieg title-track, as the elaborate musicianship is quite admirable also reflected in the less orthodox headbanging fest that is “Brain Desire” which only wins from the insertion of a spell-binding balladic interlude; and the galloping ball of fury, the very appropriately-titled “Automatic Artillery” that predates the lofty exploits on Paradox’s “Heresy” by a whole year, nailing everyone with its machine-gun like, rapidfire approach the latter also heard on the more varied but equally intense “Life Is Calling” which still finds room for a couple of enchanting melodic pirouettes.

The semi-declamatory/semi-clean singer rolls with the hyper-active musical delivery the whole time, spitting the lyrics in a cantankerous, staccato fashion at times plainly following the speedy crescendos, not adhering to too many melodic antics. Everything has been upped to the max here, and the band only wins in the process producing a nice belligerent piece of fiery, also fairly complex at times, metal that stood on the forefront of the movement in Holland for a while…

but not for very long, though, as quite a few of their contemporaries caught up with them in the early-90’s, elevating their native scene into a model for technical/progressive metal, a campaign in which Mandator didn’t quite participate as their creative output later only amounted to the “Strangled” demo, a bit over half an hour of elaborate mechanical, quasi-groovy Meshuggah-esque shenanigans that may have turned into something more substantial with time… it’s too bad that the band’s mandate was over before they managed to realise their potential to the fullest. The good news is that a second mandate has been granted them recently, and although the guys are still thinking about how to utilize it properly, by no means is it all over in the camp of one of Dutch metal’s true pioneers.

Perfect Progeny is the sophomore effort from the Dutch thrashers Mandator, after the less than stellar debut. Changes have clearly been made for this album, as the band creates a far more straightforward, aggressive thrashing sound. Peter Meijering had departed the band by this point, and Marcel Vedurman assumed the vocal duties in addition to his guitar. There was also a new drummer in Walter Tjwa. Hette Bonnema's bass playing here has ramped up, but the band has wisely turned up the rhythm guitar so you get a sampling of it at just the right frequency, under the roiling, dirty riffs.

Overall, this is a more focused album than Initial Velocity, but it does still suffer from a little too wanderlust. "Stick Your Knife" opens with violent, crunching speed and Vedurman's cruel rasp, not unlike Destruction's frontman Schmier, but thicker. There are a few points at which the song breaks into a lackluster riff, and I'm not sure the popping bass Bonnema throws in was necessary. The leads after 3:30 are excellent, though, and the bass gets interesting as well. "Coitus Interruptus" sticks and moves with jabs of punctual mutes below the verse vocals, and then transforms into a charging, bludgeoning thrash rhythm interjected in brief leads...this is an interesting song with a curious energy, and some well written components, but it does leave a strange taste in the mouth. "Surrealistic Maneuvers" is a brief instrumental with guitar effects and forgettable lead, and then "AIDS" opens through more of the band's great ear for leads and then goes downhill with a long series of boring mosh riffs.

The latter half of the album does pick up a little. "Brain Desire" has a lot of riffs that remind me of Master of Puppets or ...And Justice for All, except that they don't all flow so well together and the track can become rather jarring. "Perfect Progeny" itself has a good momentum, and before the 2 minute point it breaks off into some guitar work that reminds me of the first album from Mandator's countrymen Pestilence, and this is pretty cool. The best song on the album, at any rate. "Automatic Artillery" once again reminds me of old Pestilence, and "Life is Calling" is a decent, driving anthem which successfully revisits the bands speed metal roots, with a molten thrash shell and some excellent guitar parts.

Truly, these last three tracks could have just as well been released as an EP and kicked some small measure of ass, but all of the tracks leading up to this are unremarkable, with the exception of the lead melodies. I feel that if Mandator had written a 3rd album, they might have continued along this route and produced something worthwhile, but it was not to be. Members would pop up again, most notably Marcel joining Altar and Orphanage later in his career, but this band has been consigned to obscurity ever since. Mandator was a band with a few good ideas, and a few decent songs, but they were up against every ten ton elephant in the room, a common symptom of the 80s in which you only had so much $ to spend on so many records. This is the better and more concise of their two albums, and at least the last few tracks are worth a listen.

Highlights: Perfect Progeny, Automatic Artillery, Life is Calling

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

This Dutch band is not all that far removed from some German-sounding bands, like a more punkish Kreator (i.e. one mixed with some New York style moments, like a bunch of emphasised middle breaks, but not nearly as much so as Nuclear Assault for instance). The general riff style is pretty reminiscent of early Destruction a lot, though it tends to be more catchy with the use of longer solos. It's really hard to find an analogy, but try Pleasure to Kill meets Sentence of Death meets Cracked Brain.

Nice catchy thrash, that's what it is. The highlight is probably the "epic" A.I.D.S., which is over seven minutes long, and contains two or three overt thrash breaks and also a nice long soloing section (Coma of Souls-esque). Also, in general that is where the album picks up, with the second half being stronger than the first. Coitus Interruptus is just a bit silly, with its "fucking part" in the middle. It's some dude going "oh yes". Oh yes, indeed.

The title track is also very nice with some fast, speed-metallish riffing. Overall, it's a well-executed thrash album with some really great moments - some mind-bendingly heavy riffs that really aren't that far removed from Vio-lence (see first main fast riff of A.I.D.S. or some of Brain Desire's early riffage) - really a mix of styles, but something you can't go wrong with.