Virus

It's called momentum! A year after the release of "The Arrival", the Swedes decided to wipe out the bad impression after the first comeback to normality and hit the next, on "Virus": the album actually returning to the right way. Interestingly, this was not prevented by very clear changes in the line-up. In Lars Szöke's place, Horgh (more widely known from Immortal) appeared here, and apart from him, the band also expanded to include an additional guitarist, Andreas Holma. So a hackneyed and well-known phrase comes to mind: "new line-up, new energy". But there is seriously something in it, because "Virus" is one of the best Hypocrisy albums released in the 21st century.

Progress from "The Arrival" is fairly good; the band eliminated childrenofbodom-like sweeteners, significantly diversified the arrangements and balanced the melodies and keyboards much better between the more brutal accents. Everything that didn't work out the previous time, here is good. So you can like the overall feeling of the disc, song structures, melodies, riffs and vocals - each of these elements without trying to do something against each other as before. As for the specifics, I should mention here as examples: "Scrutinized" (great guitar harmonies and guest solo by Gary Holt), "Blooddrenched" (fast and melodic), "Fearless" (with a great, charmingly kitschy keyboard), "Craving For Another Killing" (one of their most brutal here) and "Warpath". Obviously, this is not any compelling result, but the good thing is that after two miserable albums, the band was able to regain quite a good form - enough to jump above the mainstream clownery.

So "Virus" is Hypocrisy's first, sensible return to melo-death sounds after naive attempts to approach the topic of freshness. Well, Tägtgren and the rest of the (changed) band managed to record music here that does not overwhelm with melodies, has a heaviness and does not shock with kitsch. It's just a pity that this actual return didn't last longer.

Originally on: https://subiektywnymetal.blogspot.com/2020/08/hypocrisy-virus-2005.html

I’m not a long-time Hypocrisy fan. Therefore, I will not tell you that this is a step up from Catch-22 or The Arrival. I will also not tell you that we’re back to the good ol’ days, ‘cause I have absolutely no idea. That is of course beside the point, so now that I have stated my utter ignorance, let’s continue. This is the first Hypocrisy album I have listened to, and after this, I’ll be sure to check out their other stuff. I went and borrowed this at my local library, since I, after having been blown away by his vocals on Nightmares Made Flesh by Bloodbath, thought I owed it to Mr. Tägtgren to go check out his main project. At the first listen I was pretty unimpressed. I blame this on lack of concentration. Either way, once I really sat down and listened to this album, I was blown away (advice: wear some decent headphones if you really want to catch all the layers of the music). I had to go and buy it right away. This album fucking kills!

I should make it clear that this is not your standard melodic death metal release. This is a lot different and I wouldn’t compare this to any release by Arch Enemy or most other prominent melodeath bands. I think the closest we’ll get to a decent comparison is Character by Dark Tranquillity, but it’s still very different from that. So, what makes this album so great? What makes this album one of the most solid melodic death metal albums ever to come out of Sweden? What is it about this release that is so unique? What enables this album to completely ridicule half of the previous releases in this genre? We’re getting there.

Diversity is a thing that characterises this album. You don’t really know what’s coming next. This album is able to surprise you positively in almost every song. It’s a rollercoaster ride that'll take you through an amazing blend of styles and moods and will leave you thinking “Holy crap, what a ride! Let’s go again!”

Some guitar riffs are melodic, some are damn brutal and some almost sound like well-produced black metal. There’s also a bit of thrash influence to be heard on some of the songs. And Scrutinized features a complete wacky solo by Gary Holt (of Exodus fame). There’s also a bit of melancholy on this album. Songs like A Thousand Lies, Incised Before I’ve Ceased and Living to Die clearly have a melancholic touch to them. These also happen to be the less brutal “ballads” on the album. And they’re the only songs to feature clean vocals. The entire album has a slightly apocalyptic industrial feel to it, which I am sure is completely intended on Hypocrisy’s part. I think it's the presence of the not-so-dominant keyboards that really help this mood along. And did I mention that it works damn well?

The vocals are a thing that really adds to the experience as whole in an extremely positive way. Tägtgren does everything from death growls to ear-splitting shrieks. And he fully masters all types of extreme vocals. The drumming on this album is superb. Horgh is a true master of his craft. He never gets too fancy. You’ll find quite a lot of different techniques here. All of which fit perfectly with the intended mood of the music.

So, in conclusion, if you like melodic brutality (sometimes with a touch of melancholy) you will want to get this album. This is a true melodic death metal gem. Get it!

Album highlights: Warpath, Let the Knife do the Talking, A Thousand Lies, Compulsive Psychosis and Living to Die.

Hypocrisy are still at it with their tenth album and they haven’t lost one bit of the intensity they started with on with their debut, Penetralia. While there has been a slightly more mellow moment for the band two albums ago with Catch 22, and underrated album nevertheless if you ask me, Virus is among the band’s very best work to date. This is my first ever Hypocrisy record and one of my first metal albums (yeah I know… I haven’t been listening to great music for that long) and it kicks ass.

The album starts off quite inoffensively, with a 16-second intro with basically no sounds. It’s the silence before the storm. Warpath kicks off this album and is the most intense track here. One thing you’ll immediately notice is the drumming. Lars Szöke’s gone, replaced by one of the best drummers in Norway, Immortal’s Reidar "Horgh" Horghagen.
Horgh is, dare I say it, infinitely better than Lars at drumming. Lars really stood out on Hypocrisy’s first two albums, especially on Penetralia, and then kind of became just…there. His patterns never changed. I’m glad to see him replaced by the much more competent and technical Horgh, who really gives the songs on here a new edge compared to past albums.

Of course one can never ignore Peter Tägtgren’s outstanding work when reviewing a Hypocrisy album or indeed any album on which he’s worked (Pain, Bloodbath, etc.). Here he does his usual incredible vocals as well as guitars along with Andreas Holma who didn’t stay in the band for too long anyway. Peter’s managed to write another incredible Hypocrisy album. The vocals are as crushing as ever and so are his riffs. They’re brutal in some places and more melodic in others but always fit perfectly as they always have.

The other band member whose performance I feel should be mentioned is the bass player, Mikael Hedlund, actually the only remaining founding member along with Peter and still and incredible bass player as he’s been since Penetralia. The bass lines are as good as ever and I can only hope that Mikael’ll be around for as long as the band exists as he truly is one of Hypocrisy’s greatest strengths.

Musically, apart from the aforementioned Warpath which is intense as hell as was probably intended, the album is quite varied. Scrutinized, Craving For Another Killing and Blooddrenched all seem to have an important thrash influence; they’re all good songs but actually my least favorite on the album for the most part. Then we have the faster melodic death metal tracks: Fearless, Incised Before I’ve Ceased and Compulsive Psychosis, all of which are the catchiest songs here (let’s not forget this is still Hypocrisy and not In Flames though). Let The Knife Do The Talking and A Thousand Lies are the slow death metal tracks, with the former being especially gory, and finally we have the closing track, Living To Die, which is a very slow tempo ballad featuring some of Peter’s best clean vocals ever. The song’s really very strong considering it’s almost a ballad and it’s very full of emotion because of Peter’s incredible vocal performance.

One more thing that sets this album apart is its lyrical content. While most past albums starting with Abducted featured extraterrestrials and the paranormal as the main influence, Virus sees the reemergence of the classic death metal topics of death, gore and inner psychic problems.

In a time when many bands are getting lost both musically or with their image, Hypocrisy have still got it strong and Virus proves that beyond any doubt. Virus is a masterpiece of slightly melodic death metal with a lot of variety between the tracks and I definitely recommend it both to fans of the band and to people who like melodic death metal, death metal or even thrash metal, as there’s very good material to be found here and in the band’s entire discography. All I can say now is that I eagerly await both the announced re-recording of Catch 22 and the band’s 11th full-length album.

Hypocrisy ranks highly among my favorite bands, and I enjoy and appreciate almost all of Peter Tagtgren's work. From the brutal death metal beginnings to the melodic, atmospheric sound of recent years, I have never been disappointed by an album. Who knew that the best was yet to come?

The sheer power behind this entire album is what puts it above the rest. It uses melody coupled with a brutal delivery for an intensely refined Hypocrisy sound. This album is everything that Hypocrisy is about, and it takes every aspect of the band's sound to the extreme.

Virus opens with the track "Warpath", which harkens back to the death metal days of blastbeats and relentless aggression. Right from the get go, you can tell that something is different about this album. Horgh's drumming on this album is so noticable in comparison to older Hypocrisy works, and it really completes the band's sound. The intensity of the first track lays the groundwork for the rest of the album. "Warpath" contains blastbeats and fast, thrashy riffing. Once the chorus kicks in, the atmospheric keyboards take this track all the way from the beginning of their career to modern day. Much of the album follows this formula; it brings the listener to different eras of Hypocrisy's sound seamlessly, and with much more aggression.

The band seems to have picked up a slight thrash metal influence, most prominent in songs such as "Scrutinized" and "Blooddrenched". "Scrutinized" even features a solo from thrash legend Gary Holt of Exodus to top it all off.

This album does have its share of slower, melodic tunes to balance out the intensity. "Fearless", "A Thousand Lies", and "Living to Die" are straight out of the modern Hypocrisy sound, featuring melodic guitars and catchy choruses. Again, Horgh's drumming is what separates these tracks from tracks of albums past.

Overall, the album is a culmination of every sound Peter Tagtgren has dabbled with. "Virus" is an album that every Hypocrisy fan, old or new, should be pleased with. There's something for everyone, and if you enjoy Hypocrisy's entire catalogue, this entire album is exactly what you've been waiting for.

First of all, I'll have you know that I'm writing this review from the point of view of someone who has never heard Hypocrisy rather than comparing this album to it's predecessors. That is because, quite simply, I have never heard them before. I wanted a new album, I saw the awesome artwork and it immediately grabbed my attention. So, I purchased the album (and who doesn't love blindly buying albums based on sheer asthetics?) and I was amazed at what I heard.

I'm a death metal fan through and through, but even I get tired of hearing bands trying to mimic the rehashed Death and Cannibal Corpse sounds. Hypocrisy has shown that this is not what they're about. The drums are fast and intense while the guitars act as a tank with heavy, technical riffs surrounded by a sort of epic ambience. The whole feel of this album was a sort of a post-apocalyptic, end of time feeling.

The vocals are excellent, even if they're not the most brutal. In fact, I was suprised to find that I could easily decipher the lyrics without a booklet, even though they are pristine examples of "cookie monster" vocals.

The album starts with XVI which is nothing more than a 16 second intro with about 4 seconds of actual audible sound. A bit useless, but whatever. Once Warpath kicks in, it's made clear that this CD is not going to dissappoint. What is interesting is that there is a very nice mix of speedy, technical songs as well as slower, crunchier songs. This really helps each song stand out. It doesn't sound like you're listening to the same song played 10 different ways, but 10 different songs completely--a feat I find is hardly accomplished in newer music.

So next time you're CD shopping and you want some good, quality death metal, don't hesitate to grab this album. From this album alone I am willing to rank Hypocrisy with death metal giants such as Cannibal Corpse, Nile, Behemoth, Deicide, Kataklysm, and Death. It's truly one-of-a-kind.

Many are of the mind that Hypocrisy produced their best work when the group’s personality was still firmly entrenched in a pure death metal sound. The band’s initial work was geared less toward At The Gates style riffing than what we’ve heard on recent albums from the group and their overall sensation, although raw, was intensely powerful.

With that said, “Virus” still comes across as a commendable effort, although in today’s musical climate, the originality of the overall sound of tracks like “Warpath” is left to question. A similar tone runs through “Scrutinized”, which succeeds with its instantly moshable riffing and rough edge. As Hypocrisy issue a suitably thrashing tempo, main man Peter Tagtgren brings forth scathing growls designed to tear flesh on this, the album’s most enticing composition.

In “Fearless” you’ll find the band taking a stab at something much more commercial, but it stands to reason that metal has enough bands that sound like In Flames already. Trendies will eat this up, but longtime scenesters will likely raise a questioning eyebrow at Tagtgren’s endeavor to mimic this commercially successful approach. On “Craving For Another Killing”, however, the group’s sheer intensity is irresistible. An excellent, pitch-dropping chorus gives the track memorability, while Tagtgren and Andreas Holma combine to create a massive wall of guitars.

While Tagtgren may be considered by many to be a forerunner of the Gothenburg movement, long time fans will likely remain torn between the band’s original Swedish onslaught of death and their continuing direction into more accessible realms. Still, “Virus” hits just as hard as any metal out there today and even though Hypocrisy continue to lean in this overdone direction, at least they’re doing it very, very well.

It seems as though Peter Tagtgren & crew are finally back on track. Maybe they figured that they had exhausted the songs about little green men, or it could have been the addition of Horgh on drums, but whatever it was, Virus was a huge step in the right direction for Hypocrisy. Notorious for long, dragged out songs with slow, chugging double bass, Virus turns up the heat and the tempo. Tagtgren's vocals are deeper than some of the recent Hypocrisy albums, and it adds to the heaviness of the music. Virus balances brutalness and melody excellently; most of the verses on this CD are heavy enough to be considered Death Metal, and the choruses have enough melody for an In Flames album.

I usually doubt how good an album can be if it is released only a year after a previous album, because I have a tendancy to think songwriting may have been rushed with everything going on in the span of a year, but Virus exceeded my expectations and impressed me quite a bit. It seems as if Hypocrisy didn't really care what they wrote or what people thought about their album, they just wanted to make a killer album that would make themselves happy.

This record is supposed to be Hypocrisy's big comeback and I would say that I agree with the statement. Their last couple of outings have been medocre and it was time for Peter and co. to step it up. First off, the addition of ex-Immortal(although I hear they're supposed to make a comeback) drummer Horgh makes a huge difference as I always thought Hypocrisy to be a good band with a not so stellar drummer. The drums are relentless and add the proper dose of heaviness to the songs.

Peter as usual delivers a standout vocal performance. "Warpath" is an excellent example of this man's mastery of extreme vocals. He can belt it like few can. The production is also flawless as every instrument can be heard clearly. The drums are a little loud in the mix but this fits the record's sound perfectly.

"Warpath" is an excellent opener with chocfull of heavy riffs, intense drumming and screaming vocals galore, not to mention some pretty good leads as well. "Scrutinized" is another solid track with a cool chorus and many melodic passages and a solid rythm section. "Craving for Another Killing" is another barnburner with blastbeats and an overall intensity that is almost unrivaled on the album.

Some of the slower songs stagnate a little as they just do not match the emotion of the faster tracks, rather attempting to add more melody where the intensity lacks. The album picks up again on track nine. "Blooddrenched" is the classic intensity filled Hypocrisy sound most of their fans enjoy. "Compulsive Psychosis" is another catchy and fun song to listen to with awesome high/low vocal punches which make the hairs on your neck stand up.

The closer "Living to Die" is a slow and sad track featuring clean vocals from Peter. I find this to be the best slow song on the record. The emotion in the vocals captures the essence of the track very well.

Hypocrisy have molded a sound with this record that holds much promise for the band in the future as this is a very appealing sound to metalheads of many genres alike.

Well, so far this release has been hailed as a comeback. It is in a way, but I feel that people have been very generous to this album. First, I have been a Hypocrisy fan for many years. My favorite album of theirs is Osculum Obscenum. That record is on my top 3 favorites of Death Metal. I have all of Hypocrisy's releases including the DVDs. I was really disappointed by Catch 22 and the Arrival, although the latter was still slightly better than the former. Virus is just good enough for me to consider it a half comeback, but it is not fully a Death Metal record, nor is it one of their best releases.

Obviously, "Warpath" is an excellent song. Its be best song on the CD, and a pretty good melodic type death metal track. I would go as far as to say that it is a new classic song for Hypocrisy. After that track, however, the album gets a bit weak. They put the best song first and that is both good and bad. Good because the CD opens with a brutal metal assault, bad because that is the brutalest that the CD well get. I will admit that the other songs really grow on you after several listens, but you still have to listen to it several times before you can get into it. Songs like "Scutinized" and "Fearless" are really catchy, so much so that you are really affraid to like them, like if your friends walked in while you were playing them you might say something like "hey, who took my Gutted Dead Fetus CD and replaced it in my stereo with this?!"

Tracks 5 and 6 are really unimpressive, and even boring. Track 7 is okay except for the nu metal/ mallcore vocals at the begining. Tracks 8-10 are also sort of mediocre but less so than 5 and 6. "Bloodrenched" tries to be brutal, and suceeds, but doesn't suceed in being an interesting song. Its fast, and growly, but lacks imagination and the riffs sound like Tagtgren used bad leftover riffs that didn't make the final cut for the Abducted album. The last song "Living to Die" starts off very promising, but bad vocals really spoil what might have been an really epic song. Peter has done some great clean vocals in his time. Take songs like "Drained" or "Paled Empty Sphere" from the older records. Those songs had great vocals, but living to die just sounds like he wasn't trying.

Overall, Virus is a great improvement over the three or so albums before it, that includes Into the Abyss (Death Row was great but didn't save that album from being boring as hell), but I would not give in a rating in the 90s or even 80s. Think of the albums that deserve 90s, this in not like Osculum Obscenum, the Fourth Deminsion, or even the self titled CD. I think that people have been so generous to Virus because the last albums were so terrible that anything Hypocrisy put out that didn't remind us of the garbage on the Arrival, or the raw sewage that was Catch 22 would sound like the Final Chapter part 2.

Yes, finally. Virus contains the kind of energy and raw sound which once was Hypocrisy’s trademark. I bet there are a lot of fans who’ve waited a long time for the sound to return. On the other hand, how could they go wrong with this? It was bound to happen…

After one (regarding to many of their fans) hideously nu-influenced cd, and after that, a better, but still mediocre one, this was where Hypocrisy’s fate would be judged. The moment you begin to play this fucker of an album, you know they’ve hit the right spot. Gone are the simple-structured mechanism (circa Catch 22) and the slow-paced overall feeling (Arrival). They’re replaced with the rather grim intensity and general complexity which they’ve left out on their latter releases. Of course, the smooth march they occasionally sneak in is still there, but hey, that’s just the way they construct music. By “smooth march”, I mean this kind of “slow-but-hard” impact they sometimes deliver (check out Fearless).

Many songs (Warpath, Scrutinized, Blooddrenched among others) hit you instantly in the face, while others (Let the Knife do the Talking, Fearless, A thousand Lies) build up the complete tension that is needed on a Hypocrisy record. You can hardly hear they changed the drummer (Horgh from Immortal stepped in), but you can certainly hear a change in the riffs. Vicious, malevolent riffs with some casual overtones seems to be the theme of Virus. Where other Hypocrisy records have failed to be different and good at the same time, Virus succeeds. And that’s just because this time they didn’t have to reduce anything to make a good record.

As usually, we get the clean vocals from Peter in the last song. Unfortunately, this time it doesn’t work so well. Where it should sound majestic and compelling, it comes out rather dull and boring. “Living to die” also has the simplest structure of all the songs, so maybe it’s not so weird it falls after all.

Rather than sounding particularly “new” and “fresh”, this is more of the same sound we heard from Hypocrisy in the former millennium. If you never really got into Catch 22 or The Arrival, this is where you should turn your metal-heads to.
Ear-catchers : Warpath, Scrutinized, Fearless… Hell, all of them!

I've been a huge fan of Hypocrisy ever since hearing their debut album some 4-5 years ago. They've really been up and down, all going along with Peter Tagtgren's every little whim. Maybe it was the Bloodbath album (which was excellent) that did it, or maybe the addition of powerhouse black metal drummer Horgh, but in any case, Hypocrisy has pretty much destroyed everything in it's back catalog with this opus.

The album's opening track is a really quick intro which really shouldn't be there, but whatever, it builds up to one of the best songs I've heard in awhile: Warpath. Right away you hear what this album is all about, with a mega-orgasmic blast beat section with Peter doing his best black metal shriek. WOW! Amazing! Maybe Horgh had something to do with that....

The album's first 5-6 tracks (not counting the intro) are just some of the best death metal songs I have heard on any album. After the bruising Warpath, you get Scrutinized, with an awesomely cool sounding riff and a pretty kickin' chorus. But probably the best song out of the whole album is Fearless. With a groovy rhythm and a good riff, Peter unleashes some hateful words in the chorus, and he just screams them out like he wants to tear you a new one. You really want to move out of his way.

The album loses a little bit of steam in the second half, but it is still some quality material, with Blooddrenched being my favorite of that section. The sound all through the album is very good, with some atmospheric...nay, black metal-like, riffing, some intense blast beat sections by Horgh, and Peter's powerful vocals. You can hear some of that atmospheric influence everywhere in the album from the past Hypocrisy albums, but this time the band uses it to enhance the aggression of every song on this album. I was sort of suprised how strong this album came out from the very beginning. Excellent, and if you haven't heard Hypocrisy before, this is the album to get.

Since their classic death metal past, through the atmospheric, experimental releases and even those that were considered failures, Hypocrisy had talent, will and courage to continue with their songwriting, but never have I seen such a comeback.
And as many have said before, so will I. I'm a huge fan of this band, I enjoy their old stuff, love their later releases. Sure Catch 22 sucked, Arrival was oky doky... but hell... Virus slays EVERYTHING this band has ever done!
I declare this a death metal masterpiece. An album even better than Bloodbath's Nightmares Made Flesh, which can be declared a raging modern death metal sentence, and yet Virus is definetly the greatest death metal release of the 21. century.

Comparing it to other albums released in these years I give Hypocrisy the crown without hesitation. I guess Horgh made his move, and probably even Peter acknowledged that he shouldn't mix Pain with this band, so they decided to return to the roots. Even though I never heard something like this in their past, the best way to describe what this sounds like is a Penetralia + Hypocrisy combo.

Ok... instantly after the intro... you understand what is this all about. WARPATH! The best song done by Hypocrisy. Ever. Just listen to those beautiful blastbeating by mr. Horgh, and cry to the magnificence of the chorus. A new era has begun... - perfection. Peter sounds himself more then ever with his scary screams and incredibly brutal vocal delivery, as if someone kicked him in the nuts commanding him to worship Possessed more than ever. He obeyed allright!

Next is Scrutinized. As much I've heard, they made a video of this song, a shame it wasn't Warpath, but hell there is nothing wrong with this one. The long missed thrashy riffing by mr. Tagtgren and yet again with a masterful choir. Oh yeah... solos, well they're back allright, and even remind me a bit of Torture Squad. Weird.

We come to the usual midpaced crusher only Hypocrisy can make right. Fearless' the name. Not much to say, it's great and yet again an insane chorus. I can't say I remember if this song had a solo or not... not that matters, it's too fucking good.

METAL ALERT!!! You're about to experience a huge return to the original sound of Hypocrisy. Carving For Another Killing, Let the Knife Do the Talking, Incised Before I've Ceased and Blooddrenched are most easely defined as Osculum. Fast, sometimes midpaced, brutal skullcrushers that everyone likes. This is definetly my favorite part of the album, riff after riff after riff, Hypocrisy has gone completely insane.

And so it ends with three other songs... the not mentioned Thousand Lies that starts off slowly, building up into one of the better atmospheric songs Peter has done. No effects used.
Then Compulsive Psychosis starts with a funny riff I must admit, probably the strangest song I heard from them. And at one point I even get a bit scared since there is a half-thrash riff involved in here, but fortunately it's short and adds on a bit to the atmosphere, again I admit the chrous is perfection. The band really gave 120% of themselves in this project.

And finally... the second best Hypocrisy song: Living To Die. Oh yeah, you heard these kind of songs before - Peter with clean vocals. Suck? Hell no, Peter's a great singer, just listen to the chorus, he's God. The intro riff reminds me a bit of Until The End, not by sound, but by pace. This little masterpiece is filled with a dark, nostalgic atmosphere, with it's peak in the world breaking chorus. It's not perfect, it's amazing. I've NEVER heard a better chorus than this one.

Um... if you ever see this CD... what you probably will... don't buy one copy. Buy 10! This band commands respect more than any band on the Swedish scene, since this release. I recommend it with all my heart.

In short terms, Hypocrisy topped their last two albums...

I was Confused rating this album maybe because of the vocals that I loved in early albums with their unique special realm that peter pulled when he was at his peak but there is something wrong in this album as the vocals are just good and polished but nothing really special (That doesn't mean their bad at all).

Anyway, the first song 'Warpath' starts with a killer riff, a killer scream and the old hypocrisy sound exists and continues to get better, I think it is one of the best fast songs on the album but who knows it is still fresh so my opinions may change.

Scrutinized seems to be the band's favorite as they shot a video for this awesome track however I personally think the vocals should have been pushed a bit further from the beginning of the track and an ending could be better than the fadeout, it is an ongoing good deathmetallish song, solid structure, shredlike solo, and keeps you interested.

This track 'Fearless' is a typical hypocrisy song that you can't dislike once you are an hypocrisy fan, I just love this midtempo strange feel that they put in such songs, call it groove call it whatever I call it HYPOCRISY sound that just gets you banging your head with those great simple riffs.

Carving for Another Killing, It is Fast, Aggressive and another piece of art to be added on hypocrisy's 15 years compilation, very well done, nice solo,
interesting double guitars...

On 'Let the knife do the talking' I knew what to expect when it first started, as I like peter's compositions I can tell what is coming next, and yes another midtempo song that you could sing along with your fellow metalheads and bang your heads, A death metal song With a short riff in the middle that is repeated twice or so similar to 'God of Emptiness' by 'Morbid Angel' and the rest is filled with those double guitar riffs that hypocrisy are known for, so I guess you got how good it is \m/

'A thousand lies' starts with an arpeggio and spoken words I guess it says:" Come Closer And Tell What You Need, I am Crawling thru/to your veins, satisfaction guarranteed" and then Heaviness strike your ears with a grandiose verse that is followed by a slower one with one of hypocrisy's better moods with melodic solo-like lines and then again the song gets heavier keeping that feel peter brings intelligently, this song is one of those relaxing points on the album but for me it is one hell of a song that I'd close my eyes and Enjoy.

Incised before I've Ceased, it is good but not one of my favorites, just an ongoing song, maybe the weakest but still pretty damn good. another fadeout at the end. some clean vocals here as well.

Blooddrenched, this song should have been much better if the vocals weren't so low and barely heard, the opening riff is one of the best death metallish riffs created by hypocrisy for a long while, but those low vocals didn't give the song it's real value keeping it very good but not excellent, I think this song will be loved by those that like the less melodic sound of hypocrisy. the guys prove that they still have the ability to play good music.

Weirdly enough the opening riff of Compulsive Psychosis was so familiar, I wondered if it is played by some other band but whether it was or not I do not think it could have been better played, another weird factor in this song Strapping young lad came to mind, I might be hallucinating about a similarity in the overall sound btw the two bands in this track but there was something about it... the solo holds a couple of oriented riffs at its start and then hits you with one of those simple but great solos hypocrisy pulls and I have a huge respect for this band for this as they do not go with the trend of we play extreme so we should make noises and shred all along our career :s

The last track LIVING to DIE starts with that raw-like however polished but still amazing sound to give an repetitive intro of a great ending track, ahhhhh throughout the album I couldn't explain that very known feel hypocrisy pull in their mid tempo songs, but once again I can say that did it and they did it well, although a lot of people may not like the vocals in this song, but I did like it and I did appreciate it.

Started this review with an 80% rating and as I listened to the album for the fifth time the rating kept on increasing to reach 93% for now, so I will leave with that before it starts again...

Some people hate hypocrisy because they changed some others love whatever peter does, In both cases I think you will be satisfied... I enjoyed it a lot, it might be the beer & it might be the late hour but it is more than definite that this band know well what their doing...