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Coroner > Mental Vortex > Reviews
Coroner - Mental Vortex

How to Sell Out Properly, Pt 1 - 100%

Vecxio, September 16th, 2023

Coroner is one of the greatest metal bands in history, anyone reading this should know this already, yet their last two full length albums are infamous within their followers for being too “radio friendly”. If truth be told, this album is softer and somewhat simpler than its predecessors, actually their 90s albums are very divisive among their fans, on the other hand, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad album, as a matter of fact, it’s my favorite, and I’ll explain why.

To begin with, the mixture and production values are absolutely flawless, that guitar tone couldn’t be any better, everything sounds pristine and raw at the same time, as oxymoron as it may sound. The album is worth a listen just because of how well recorded it is. The vocals account for a great deal of that vicious and hostile feeling present in the songs, despite not being an educated voice, it does fit the music. It’s not a dull, monotonous death metal growl nor is It the high-pitched black metal scream, it’s somewhere in the middle, and I love it.

Additionally, the songwriting front to back is terrific. The riffs can be fast-paced and intricate just to seamlessly transition into groovier and slower, but no less intricate, sections, that themselves end up becoming fast again. Their sense of melody is refined and clever, they never go for the obvious thing to do and still manage to be memorable because their focus is in the music in and of itself and not the showcase of virtuosity that could otherwise lessen the impact of the music. If I had to nail down their sound, I’d say it’s a cohesive blend of Megadeth’s speed and technicality, Overkill’s groove, Celtic Frost’s ferocity and Rush’s otherworldly songwriting, of course with their own signature on top of all that. The soloing in this album is on a next level, Mr. Baron was a brilliant and insanely talented musician on par with giants like Adrian Smith, Marty Friedman and Dave Mustaine.

The reason I believe this to be their best album is because I feel they managed to tame their technicality and make it serve a greater purpose within the music, it’s a means to an end, not the other way around. Even though it’s a sell out in the eyes of the band’s followers because it’s not all over the place filling every second with a thousand riffs, it’s still super complex and brilliant, just toned down a bit compared to their previous endeavors, yet this is still comparable in quality to the best Megadeth or Metallica albums, so I don’t get why people complain so much.

About Perfection - 100%

Hames_Jetfield, June 9th, 2023

After a series of very innovative albums in the form of "R.I.P.", "Punishment For Decadence" and "No More Color", Marquis Marky's band could basically rests on one’s laurels and start recording copies of these albums. A lot could indicate that, considering how many ideas they contained and how much they had a significant impact on the later, technical playing of metal. From a common sense point of view, it even seemed that nothing more than this format could be invented. Well...absolutely not! The Swiss already at the first opportunity decided to go a step further, directing their music to much more progressive and crazy areas, which had not previously appeared on previous albums as on "Mental Vortex".

On their fourth album, the Swiss turned to more unconventional climates - strongly progressive and not always associated with speeding at maximum pace. This does not mean, however, that Coroner's music has become too sophisticated. This is the genius of "Mental Vortex" and - in general - of the band itself. Because although it seemed impossible, the trio also managed to live up to their high ambitions this time and moved the peak level from the past even higher, and at the same time gave the whole a distinctly different quality - unlike previous releases. Exactly! For the third time, the Swiss have created totally outstanding material, at the highest possible level and at the same time different from their previous albums. "Mental..." even more often reaches longer, and sometimes a bit more subtle, complex forms, it's more broken and stands out with a rather twisted-like atmosphere (the best example of this - the introduction of "Metamorphosis"), on the other hand, there's still a lot of thrash metal aggressiveness here. Even more rock (!) influences appearing, e.g. in terms of the feeling of some riffs, Tommy's solos or the extremely successful interpretation of The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", do not come into watered-down material. Literally all the songs that make up the "Mental Vortex" repertoire are outstanding masterpieces. Each of them perfectly combines with progressive-technical style and thrash metal aggressiveness, and at the same time very boldly smuggles rock accretions.

So, the fourth longplay of Coroner turned out to be another, though the last, very visionary and brilliant album in the discography of this Swiss band. Well, "Mental Vortex" perfectly showed phenomenon of Marquis Marky's band started from "R.I.P." to this album - as extremely ambitious, wanting continuous development and having their own unique style. After all, this is how you recognize the greatest bands, when they can change significantly from album to album, and at the same time they are able to maintain an extremely high level from the past. Until 1991, that's how it was with Coroner case!

Originally on A bit of subjectivism...in metal

Surprisingly laid-back technical thrash metal - 88%

Agonymph, July 11th, 2021

My relationship with Coroner’s fourth album ‘Mental Vortex’ through the years has been a strange one. It was released right in between the two Coroner albums that used to be my favorites. Because of that, I used to think it was not thrashy enough to be as good as ‘No More Color’, but also not avant-garde enough to be as intriguing as ‘Grin’. After many years, I have really come to appreciate ‘Mental Vortex’ for what it is. While the Swiss trio does not stray as far from their thrash metal roots here as would be the case on ‘Grin’, ‘Mental Vortex’ does see the band branching out.

One thing that always set Coroner apart from other bands that carried the technical thrash metal tag is that their rhythms were much more laid-back and ‘Mental Vortex’ might actually be the best example of this. For all the intricate riffs and twisted melodies Tommy Vetterli plays, Markus Edelmann’s drums always have a relaxed groove to them even during some of the odd time signatures or when he’s driving the more aggressive sections forward. Vetterli is making better use of dissonant chords here as well in a way that does not sound strange or contrived at all.

Another impressive feat about ‘Mental Vortex’ is how memorable the songs are. When a band crams a large number of complicated riffs into a song, very few – if any – will stick. In addition, though Ron Broder’s bile-spitting vocals aren’t the most melodically memorable, multiple parts of the songs on ‘Mental Vortex’ will remain with the listeners for a long time after they turned off the album. The choruses of ‘Son Of Lilith’, ‘Metamorphosis’ and ‘About Life’ are just so incredibly catchy that the average listener is certain to shout them along. Quite surprising for an album as dense and intricate as this one.

‘Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)’ is the perfect opening track for ‘Mental Vortex’, as it feels closest to ‘No More Color’ in style, though the presence of dissontant chords sort of serves as a proper introduction for the album’s sound. ‘Sirens’ at times sounds like a progressive rock track recorded by a thrash metal band that also enjoys post-punk, while ‘Semtex Revolution’ is a perfect lesson in dynamics, even incorporating a subtle acoustic guitar in its darkest sections. It also contains Vetterli’s best guitar solo on the album. ‘Pale Sister’ and ‘Son Of Lilith’ contain a few excellent, twisted and typically Coroner riffs.

Ultimately, only the Beatles cover ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ misses the mark. It is well-performed and the darkness of the original certainly fits alongside the rest of the album quite well, but it doesn’t really add much to the original and I would far rather have had another Coroner composition. Because the seven that are on here are mostly great, often amazing. While ‘Mental Vortex’ does nothing to smoothen the transition to the cold, industrial atmosphere of ‘Grin’, its mildly avant-garde approach to songwriting was definitely something the band needed to get out of its system to make that transition. And once it sinks in, the fact that it’s not ‘No More Color’ or ‘Grin’ only works to its benefit.

Recommended tracks: ‘Semtex Revolution’, ‘Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)’, ‘Sirens’

Originally written for my Kevy Metal weblog

True to its contemporaries... - 65%

terrr, February 16th, 2021

...but not to itself. Surely, this is a pretty decent post-Pantera thrash album, albeit it's not a good Coroner album. I haven't listened to Grin, and I doubt I ever will, but this is Coroner's worst effort if you ask me. I'm surprised that this is so positively received, but I've seen worse heaps of shit that somehow have a rating of over 4 (out of 5) on RYM and 90 on Metal Archives.

I sometimes like to believe Swiss metal bands are time travellers, considering how mind-blowingly out of their time and forward thought their music is. Coroner's previous efforts are baffling with how complex and progressive they are for their time, but with this one, their distinctness mostly fades. It's akin to their preceding albums without much change, yet somehow monotonous and much more groovy. It's bland, and it fails to achieve what thrash can achieve with the genre's very limited calibre. It doesn't convey any energy, it isn't fun, nor does it (clearly) express any emotions in the songwriting.

Now, it isn't as bad as you might think it is after reading the second paragraph of this review. It still is a Coroner album, and it still manages to impress. Maybe not as often as "No More Color," though. The riffing sure as hell is much weaker but is still miles beyond any other technical thrash record that makes me wince with the mere thought of listening to it. There are chaotic riffs that make this just a tad bit less bland, then there are the more "emotional" parts that do slightly touch you deep inside, and then there are the majority of the riffs here. Those riffs would be the bland, boring, groovy horseshite that are probably just there to fill space in the songs, rather than express anything other than "wow, look at this cool groove dude!" Not even the leads save it, because there are none. I'd have loved hearing those sweet, sweet ascensions to the higher strings, but they're only utilised to complement the groove-y sections and nothing further than that. Sigh, sigh. But much unlike the deprecated guitar-work, the foundations are as strong as ever. The bass and the drums have a good synergy together, and the bass forms that perfect bridge between the two other instruments. The drums and the guitars augmentate each other so well that the album sounds like one single (rotting) ear candy instead of three distinct sounds. That's good, I guess. At least it works here.

Then there's the Beatles cover in the end, "I Want You (She's So Mad)," which is perhaps one of the best non-metal covers in metal music history. It's like 60s rock meets Celtic Frost. The guitar work is pretty damn good, the tone is well-adjusted for what they're supposed to be doing, and it just sounds like the band was having some jolly good fun with it until the outro segment.

It's good as far as thrash metal goes.

Highlights: Semtex Revolution, I Want You.

Quite true to its name - 90%

Gas_Snake, June 21st, 2020

Coroner are a band that I love to no end, and there are many reasons for it. One of the biggest reasons is that while they were actively composing music, they were constantly changing their sound while consistently releasing great albums. Their catalog is a place where creativity and songwriting prowess combine to create masterworks of music, albums that I can listen to for hours on end. This includes the album reviewed here - their fourth full-length "Mental Vortex", my favorite Coroner album after its direct predecessor "No More Color". While the thrash scene was suffering from a tendency towards bloated song structures and faux-progressive elements (as exhibited by Metallica's "And Justice For All" and the numerous second-rate bands that followed in their footsteps), these technical thrashers from Switzerland decided to change to a somewhat similar sound, but in their own way...

Yes, this is the closest Coroner have come to creating a "half-thrash" album, but that barely says anything when it's just as unique, consistent and riff-heavy as their other releases. The primary style of this album is still thrash metal, but the sound is very different from the one on their previous albums. The focus is no longer on the abundant speedy riffing found on "Punishment for Decadence" and "No More Color", but on choppy, machine-like technical riffs that twist and turn at every opportunity, sucking you into a vortex (no pun intended) of puzzling rhythmic constructions. This is helped immensely by the production - clinical, but not sterile, with perfectly fitting guitar and bass tones that help to immerse you in the music's atmosphere.

And what an atmosphere it is. "Mental Vortex" takes you through a void of abstract horrors, dream-like hallucinations and political unrest. The riffs frequently spiral out into dissonant sequences, not unlike a lot of tech-death bands in the early 90's, only much more catchy, memorable and atmospheric than what is commonly heard in that style. The riffs are joined by dissonant chord progressions, clean guitar breaks and occasional movie samples that do not interrupt the flow of the songs, but only serve to pull you in deeper and deeper.

The songs are all amazing, with the opener "Divine Step/Conspectu Mortis" being perhaps slightly less so than the others. "Semtex Revolution" is a live staple, with many headbang-inducing riffs and an amazing solo. "Pale Sister" and "About Life" are both just as fast-paced as their previous material, but they still fit into the general sound of this album. They aren't quite as dynamic as a "Sudden Fall" or "Read My Scars", but they instead excel at drowning you in a vortex of surgical, melodic riffing. The only weak link on the album is the Beatles cover that closes it. While it's a good rendition of the song in a vacuum, it feels clearly out of place on this album, far too goofy compared to the other tracks. Were it not for that cover, I would've considered it every bit as awesome as "No More Color", but alas, it knocks this album down from "nearly perfect" to only "utterly amazing". Not a big loss, as it is located at the end of the album and doesn't break the flow of the songs that lead up to it.

Is this a great album? Well, it's a Coroner album, so the answer should be obvious. Along with albums like "Rust In Peace" and "Horrorscope", it showed that thrash metal was still a potent force of both aggression and musicality. However, I cannot call this album part of the so-called "last stand" of thrash like the masterpieces of Kreator and Artillery that came out in the previous year. Coroner were not sticking to the typical style of thrash metal: they were constantly evolving and changing their style to great results. It is truly a shame that this band does not plan to release any new material, as I'm sure they are still full of creativity and capable of doing so. This is not what I'd call "mandatory listening", as you might not like the stylistic shift from their first three albums. But if you simply want great thrash metal with a unique sound, then this album is for you, just like the rest of their discography.

Longer - 84%

StainedClass95, July 25th, 2014

This is Coroner's fourth album, Mental Vortex This is not as great as No More Color, but the quality isn't drastically lower. This album reminds me of Into the Pandemonium. It's not as good as the previous few, it's very much weirder, but the quality of the stronger songs is definitely there.

The song structure on this album is more drawn out than before. These songs are a couple of minutes longer overall than they had been on the earlier albums. Part of this is that they are slower. I suspect that there was an interest in making this album heavier, as there is a bit more of an early groove vibe from this than from any of their early albums. I imagine that this is an influence from Metallica more than anything. Many bands were influenced by Master and Justice to slow down some of their songs. This strikes me as more of the latter, with the stretched out songs and colder vibe.

The vocals on this album are as normal. They have a distinct Warrior-flavoring, which works for him. His lyrics also have that flavor to them. They're very esoteric and even disconcerting at times. On Metamorphosis, there are some weird whale sounds in the intro that are legitimately creepy, and then it follows into some freaky Mr. Limpet lyrics. His bass-playing is by far the superior aspect of his contribution. He does have some good bass lines on this album, and apparently he does it all with his fingers. For some, this is more difficult, but for others, this can be easier. I do know it usually takes a little more concentration than playing with a pick.

The guitar playing isn't as enjoyable as usual. He doesn't shred as often, and he also isn't shining more than usual in any other areas. The longer composition approach works for many guitarists, but I think Tommy definitely worked better with shorter numbers with shred solos. The riffs here are a little odd for him. I would actually liken much of the playing here to Killing Technology. The difference here is that where Piggy used his energetic weirdness to his advantage, Tommy is more cutting himself off at the knees by not bringing his technique to bear. A few songs do work really well in this format. I couldn't imagine Son of Lilith being played faster or differently.

Son Of Lilith, Semtex Revolution, and About Life are great songs. These three would be on an ideal Coroner mix tape. The rest are mostly above-average, except the Beatles cover. I don't get Coroner's desire to end their albums with bizarre 60's covers. All in all, I believe my rating is a fair indication of what to expect. This probably won't be anyone's favorite, but it would be a reasonable addition to a collection. If you've ever wanted a mixture of Voivod and Celtic Frost with an And Justice feel, then you'll be thrilled, and I would more generally recommend this to fans of thrash, heavy, and maybe prog metal.

What Do We Know "About Life"? Nothing! - 100%

bayern, December 21st, 2011

The Swiss masters of technical thrash concluded the decade with a great album, which was largely considered the culmination of their career; at least by those who never had the patience to wait for two more years, in order to hear the grandiosity which "Mental Vortex" turned out to be. The trio have already managed to prove themselves as true auteurs on the metal field by the end of the decade: well, they have not added a groundbreaking album of the "Into the Pandemonium" proportions into their catalogue, but at the same time they haven't humiliated themselves beyond recognition with something as degrading as "Cold Lake". The new decade was arriving with new territories to be explored. How would the three youths from Zurich be able to answer to those new demands...

"Mental Vortex" is the musical analogue to the immaculate machines which the Swiss watches have had the reputation to be all these years: the riffs click and clock with the utmost precision until the very end(including on the very individual, kind of frivolous, take on the The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", with not a single note played just for the sake of it. Every riff and lead have been carefully calculated, as though an invisible clockwork mechanism, which makes absolutely no mistakes, has been working behind the scenes the whole time. Well, so where is all this spontaneity with which this genre has been so proud with eversince its inception? The answer in this particular case is: nowhere. But when this perfectly constructed work has been done the Coroner way, it's anything else, but boring and soulless. On the contrary: it has been made into one of the finest albums to ever grace the metal scene in general.

The sample introduction, which is taken from the Stuart Gordon cut film "Re-Animator" (based on a Lovecraft story), may be viewed as a cliche pretty common for the genre, and probably not promising much in terms of originality. But once the clinical, sterile riffs of the opening "Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)" start cutting, twisting and turning into the least expected directions, one would quickly realize that there is quite a "metamorphosis" witnessed here, and one which is by all means worth delving into. Before continuing, however, one should also leave all his/her illusions behind: there would be neither warm subtlety here nor any lyrical, melodic digressions which worked so well on "No More Colour", giving it another unique, but in a different way, character. With those illusions left aside, one can continue to enjoy the otherwordly technicality on the string of tracks ("Son of Lilith", "Semtex Revolution", " Sirens", "Metamorphosis") which follows, containing the definitive technical compilation of riffs on the whole scene. The compositions are encyclopaedias of puzzling riff-patterns and labyrinthine song-tructures which are utterly logical, and never get lost in a senseless display of mastery, like it has been the case on other, less cleverly "plotted", efforts.

The dynamics is so big that one would hardly notice the reduction in terms of speed, the latter handsomely provided by "Pale Sister" and "About Life", consummate technical headbangers with a unique mechanical feel, which was strange even to Meshuggah at that time; there the band's infatuation with the horror genre springs up again: the closing voice sample at the end of "About Life" has been taken from Clive Barker's "Hellraiser". So far, so perfect... Having already covered Jimmy Hendrix's "Purple Haze" on "Punishment for Decadence", the ever unpredictable trio decide to "massacre" The Beatles this time in their own way, and here comes the already mentioned cover of the Brits' ""I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which is "so heavy" indeed, that it may have tumbled everything, which has been heard previously, down on any other album; but not here. This slightly off-context track scores highly on originality thanks to the "heavy" doomy approach which the guys epitomize as a welcome shift from the very demanding, clockwork delivery served so far. And it works...

This album showed an obvious move towards a more updated, modern sound which, mixed with the still prevailing old school patterns, could only have split the fanbase into two camps: those who would embrace the new ideas whole-heartedly and follow them all the way to "Grin"; and those who would start pulling out due to their conservative views and stubborn devotion to the dying classic formulas. Neither side should be blamed for its stance, of course, but those with ears (and heart; and soul) for the innovative and the pioneering would simply keep silent in wonder before another monument of a musical genius, which literally closed the chapter of classic thrash, along with other works released the same year, by subtly (so there was something subtle here, after all...) drawing paths to be explored in the near future. The band themselves never bothered to follow them, though; instead, they branched out into a less thrashy, industrial direction with "Grin" to wrap it up, thus opening another lane for a further exploration...

So what do we know about life, folks? Exactly.

Serves the revolution in a different way - 82%

autothrall, March 22nd, 2011

After an album like No More Color, Coroner might have just pulled up their tent posts, packed in their supplies and left the rest of us stunned and wandering through the ashes of astonishment, unable to escape the grim new reality they had opened through a window of precision craftsmanship. But this was a touring band, a power trio trying to make their stamp on the world beyond the cult following they had developed. To this extent, they have gone all out with the 4th full-length, Mental Vortex, so far as to record it down in Florida at Morrisound with Tom Morris. One can certainly ascertain the difference here; it's far more controlled and 'zen'. Not to say that the band have lost their touch for a climactic escalation through Tommy Vetterli's performance, but in all this feels like a stripping down of the spiraling wonders of their previous albums.

Unfortunately, this dive in complexity is relative to a descent in overall quality, a trend that would continue into their even more minimal follow-up, Grin. Mental Vortex is still a great album, with five near legendary Coroner tracks in its eaves, but this is the first case in which I felt any of my attentions slipping. Part of this is the cover of The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" included as a core element of the album. They perform it effortlessly, and even manage to extract its sullen, bluesy darkness to a new height, but it simply does not concur with the band's sharper, original material. I'm also not an enormous fan of the opener, "Divine Step (Conspectu Mortis)". It creates a steady, frantic step through the punch of its discordant verses, so it's a decent enough start to the proceedings, but it's about 7 minutes without that one riff I always expect from a Coroner track to blow my mind clean out of my temple. I enjoy its mellow, spacious bridge segment for the contrast against the band's typical busiwork, but that metallic, misanthropic orgasm of guitar is nowhere to be found.

"Son of Lilith" is likewise not a favorite of mine, but there are a few pretty killer riffs hovering there that do well to build appropriate tension. As for the rest of the content, it's superb, if somewhat drier than Punishment for Decadence or No More Color due to the polish of the mix. "Semtex Revolution" alternates a flowing if simplistic speed lick with a swaggering, arching melody and some nice vocal finesse, all to a steady rock beat. "Sirens" follows at largely the same gate, with some more amazing verse vocals, and a killer breakout groove that they steadily lift the thrashing towards just before 2 minutes. "Metamorphosis" is inaugurated with some whale like squeals and smooth bass, before the choppy melodic guitars lead to a glorious, marching riff so incredibly bare boned that you have to wonder how no one had come up with it before; and "About Life" is perhaps the closest track on the album to the material of No More Color, with a superb charging note pattern in the verse. Best of all, though, is "Pale Sister" with its frenzied Vetterli cycles, some of the fastest on the album, another sweet groove in the chorus, great leads, and an unexpected but catchy breakdown after the final chorus.

Perhaps it's a symptom that the band were so busy the previous few years penning labyrinthine exercises in genius, or perhaps a conscious decision to boil the writing down to what they felt were the important, underlying musical themes. Coroner was not the only band doing so in 1991, there was a far more visible example (Metallica), but the Swiss clearly weren't deviating that far from their origins in R.I.P. That said, Mental Vortex does not have nearly so much to offer as its elder siblings. The material is sufficiently dark, riff-strewn and superior to the lion's share of thrash in the early 90s which was grinding the genre to a halt, but it half turns its back on the frenetic displays of passion that brought the band to the foreground of Europe's most promising bands. Creative. Curious. Not all that exhilarating. Sadly, there would be no turning back, as the following, more groove turned, mechanical album would prove to be the straw that broke this camel's back.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

End of an era, beginning of an idea - 98%

DoctorX, October 12th, 2008

For many great music artists, the fourth album represents something special, a defining statement or culmination of career ambitions. Led Zeppelin had their untitled fourth album, Megadeth gave us Rust in Peace, and Darkthrone unleashed the nightmare of Transylvanian Hunger upon this earth. Even the Beatles, whose early efforts could be characterized as bubblegum and pabulum, began to develop an identity and artistic vision with their fourth album. Coroner gave us something truly beautiful. Mental Vortex.

As the ‘80s rolled into the ‘90s, many thrash bands lost steam. The style fell out of favor in Europe, and mutated to a more blues-based “groove metal” variant in the States. Coroner never had a presence in the US, and so their following waned from its already modest numbers. Noise Records found itself in financial trouble, and consequently the last two Coroner albums saw limited distribution, with almost no promotion. It’s a crying shame, because Mental Vortex is an earth-shattering masterpiece.

The first three Coroner records all raced towards thrash metal’s limits of speed and complexity, seemingly reaching a limit on No More Color, an album which could also have been called “No More Breathing Room.” Realizing that there are only so many notes you can pile onto one piece of music while calling it a “song,” the band opted not to cram twelve gallons of shit into a six gallon jug. It’s a lesson latter day Dream Theater might well take to heart.

Coroner instead peeled back the layers of guitar, tweaked up the bass to fatten the texture of their riffs, and let the melodies hang by sinewy threads. The boys were moving years ahead of the game now, foreshadowing the rise of melodic death metal. Time and tempo blurred like a molten alloy. Edelmann and Vetterli were playing with fire, and you could hear them cackle with glee as the rulebook burned. Songs like Metamorphosis and Divine Step are staggering and obstinate monoliths of artistic vision. The best aspect of Mental Vortex is that if it were recorded today, no one would think it out of date.

This album is slightly controversial with thrash fans, due to its simplified sound and reduced tempos. There is a genuine perception that most thrash bands sold out in the 1990s, slowing and simplifying their sound in order to attain commercial success. Much of this is true, but Coroner do not deserve guilt by association. This band had no chance at gaining play on radio or MTV, and they knew it. Broken English was their second language, the lead singer had a skullet, and perhaps most importantly, this album still sounded distinctly like Coroner, not Metallica or Pantera. There is a slight Megadeth influence, but that leads to a more affirming conclusion: this is the sort of album that should have followed Rust in Peace

And unlike most of their contemporaries, Coroner knew enough to quit while they were ahead.