Mimic47

With their newest effort "Icaros", Diablo got again a little more known outside of their home country, and hell, they deserve it! Their equally great "Eternium" already got them appeal in metal circles, but its successor "Mimic47" often gets overlooked, to an extent rightfully so. When I got into Diablo, though, I didn't know of these masterpieces. In fact, this very album got me hooked to them. It captures you right away with the heavy thrash riffing of Shadow World, but at that point I already thought that the "Melodic Death" (Gothenburg-influenced Thrash actually) they were playing was fuckin' catchy and very headbangable but not to be appreciated for its technicality.

Of course, Utriainen's lead guitar work is present as ever, but somehow, outside the (awesome as ever) solos it seldom actually stands out. Except for D.O.A., the lead guitar just sets in after some time and plays some melodic but often forgettable lines (Together as Lost is a good example). Compare this to Lovedivided or Living Dead Superstar to see how they can do it so much better.

The instrumental Kalla, probably an attempt to produce a second Omerta, is pretty weak (just some unvaried acoustic-sounding playing) and I would have left it off the album. No other track can really be considered filler but they all have almost the same speed! Really, I don't have anything against a band doing nothing but mid-paced thrash and doing it well, but when you know that those guys are capable of much higher and more varied speeds (especially on Icaros) it leaves you pretty puzzled why they didn't take advantage of their talent here.

Overall, this effort is a bit disappointing for this particular band, but on the other hand, the style they employ here is great to listen to if you're just pissed off about something. In my opinion, it's actually the most thrashy and aggressive album they've put out so far but instrumentally and structurally it's rather weak compared to both Eternium and Icaros. Even Diablo themselves seem to think this way. I saw them as the support of CoB a few months ago and their setlist didn't include a single song from this album. Granted, they only played for half an hour or so but this shows they don't consider it exactly their best.

If I were to show someone what Diablo is all about, I wouldn't choose this. But to headbang, drink beer and chant along (you get the idea) this is just one of my favorites.

Recommended songs: Damien, In Sorrow We Trust, Mimic47, Condition Red, Rebellion of One, D.O.A.