Vim Fuego A few fans of Exhorder bought this, hoping it would be a surrogate third album of the Deep South thrashers. Anyone expecting an extreme thrash–fest from this album will be highly disappointed. While Floodgate features a former member of Exhorder, none of the old sound has been retained at all.

Y'see, 'Penalty' is sludgy doom–laden swamp rock, more akin to the likes of Trouble and Monster Magnet than Dark Angel and Pantera. This is an album of huge rock slab guitar riffs and a rhythm section dragged out of the slimy 'gator infested swamps of the Bayou. There is nothing fancy here, just four guys churning out the music they love, without pretension.

Kyle Thomas was the acidic mouthpiece of Exhorder in his thrash incarnation. With Floodgate, he proves highly versatile, and surprisingly comes out with a rough edged blues–y voice, reminiscent of a number of singers from different bands, one moment Trouble, the next Masters of Reality, and the odd touch of Ozzy. Thomas shows an excellent ear for vocal melody, and backing vocal harmonies slide in and out of many of the songs. The Exhorder roar comes out on occasion, to add effect or emphasise a point.

"Whole" is like a soundtrack for that moment of semi–consciousness between waking and sleeping, like Black Sabbath's "Planet Caravan". "Second Guesser" jolts you out of that reverie, with an almost hardcore shout–along feel, like a Corrosion Of Conformity or Crowbar track.

Fans of supergroup Down will love this album. Strangely enough, it was released about the same time as 'Nola', and was also recorded in New Orleans. It is basic, no nonsense stoner rock, minus the stoned part and stripped back to the bare bones. You don't even need to get out of it to get into this.

UMUR "Penalty" is the debut full-length studio album by US groove/alternative metal act Floodgate. The album was released through Roadrunner Records in 1996. The lineup features among others Exhorder/Trouble frontman Kyle Thomas on vocals and guitars. Roadrunner Records worked hard in those years to sign and promote groove/alternative metal, after they sacked most of their death metal acts in 1993 - 1995. "Penalty" turned out to be the only album released by Floodgate, so it probably wasn´t as commercially successful as the label had expected it would be.

...those coming to "Penalty" expecting it to sound anything like the powerful and aggressive thrash of Exhorder will come away very disappointed though. The music on "Penalty" is a groove based, accessible and alternative type of metal with a very time typical sound and style. Kyle Thomas is a very skilled singer with a strong voice and it´s interesting to hear him sing in a more "normal" voice compared to his absolutely caustic raw type vocal delivery on the Exhorder albums. The musicianship on the album is generally strong although the instrumental part of the music isn´t that challenging. The album is well produced.

The songwriting is what drags my rating down a bit. There are a couple of memorable tracks on the a 11 track, 55:06 minutes long album, but there are way too many "filler" tracks to accompany those few strong tracks. Also "Penalty" sounds very dated. This is a music style that was very popular in the mid-nineties, but died out before the turn of the millenium. So it´s a very time typical release that probably only those who enjoyed that style of music in those days are going to find enjoyment in. Of course I might be wrong in such a harsh statement and as with everything else it´s probably an aquired taste. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.