Mekong Delta - Lurking Fear. 2007 Germany

After 13 years of dormancy, Mekong Delta return with Lurking Fear. Or I should say founder Ralf Hubert returned with a whole new crew in tow - all experienced and talented metal warriors (you know a band's been around the block when the "youngster" is 37 years old). Unlike progressive rock bands from the 70s, most metal groups' reunion efforts tend to be very good. I've long held the belief this is because the metal groups (many who came about in the sordid underground of the 1980s) understood their core client base far more than the bands from the 70s who were still aimlessly looking for radio hits. Not only did Mekong Delta take a long vacation, but so did the entire technical thrash movement they helped invent. So it turns out Mekong Delta's reunion also ushered back in a most welcome style of music, that has since gone on to be popularized more so than ever by a once obscure Phoenix area band known as Vektor (whose 2009 debut is considered the 3rd highest ranked album according to RYM for all albums (yes, that's right, from a technical thrash band!!)). So exactly where did Mekong Delta look for inspiration for their comeback? Of course I would have hoped for Dances of Death, but instead they chose The Music of Erich Zann, which is certainly not a bad choice at all. This is gritty stuff. Highly complex music, with some orchestrations, that is also deadly in the thrash department. The riffs are solid, and are given just enough space to stand out among the insane amount of ideas thrown around. There are even some real melodies here, which is something of an accomplishment in this field of music. I'm telling you folks, this is headphone music only. I tried listening to it in the car recently, and I just couldn't give it the focus it requires - and it sounded like a big pile of goo. Sitting down with a real stereo and listening intently with headphones (and a craft Imperial IPA of course), really opens this one up. Lurking Fear is not to be missed.

Ownership: CD: 2007 Locomotive (Spain)

8/26/14 (new entry)