UMUR "B.A.C.K." is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish thrash metal act Artillery. The album was released through Diehard Music in October 1999. Artillery disbanded in 1991, but the idea for a reunion was ignited with the release of the 1998 compilation album "Deadly Relics". The reunited lineup only consists of lead vocalist Flemming Rønsdorf, and guitarists (and brothers) Michael Stützer and Morten Stützer. The latter also recorded the bass tracks on the album, and the drums are handled by session drummer Per M. Jensen (Invocator, The Haunted). The reunion would prove very short-lived and Artillery disbanded again in 2000. They reunited in 2007 on a more permanent basis.

The album opens with the blazing thrash metal track "Cybermind", and the listener is instantly transported back to the days of "By Inheritance (1990)". There are a couple of other similar thrashy moments on the album, but the more groove oriented thrash metal sounds of the 90s have not gone by unnoticed in the Artillery camp, and "B.A.C.K." features quite a few groove thrash metal parts and other musical ideas, which set it apart from its direct predecessor. It´s not always an issue and the heavy groove laden parts are occasionally pretty effective and the skilled Jensen is the perfect drummer to make the parts work. Rønsdorf sounds a little awkward on some of those parts though, and it´s only natural with the voice and vocal style he has.

"B.A.C.K." is a well produced release and it is a high quality release on most parameters, but while the songwriting is certainly intereresting and there are some brillant moments on the album, the tracks are still a bit too inconsistent in quality and style and therefore the album ends up a bit of a mixed bag, and not exactly the triumphant comeback one could have hoped for. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is still deserved though, because my minor issues with the songwriting, should not be interpreted as if this isn´t a quality album, because it most certainly is.

Warthur In retrospect, Artillery's 1999 comeback album B.A.C.K. turned out to be overoptimistic in its titling, for no sooner had the band come back than they broke up again. (In fact, that ill-fated rebirth had fizzed out before B.A.C.K. was even released!) Another decade of dormancy later and When Death Comes kicked off the present, more long-lasting revival of the band, and although it does have some personnel changes - Flemming Rönsdorf is replaced on vocals by Søren Nico Adamsen, and the By Inheritance-era rhythm section of Carsten Nielsen on drums and Peter Thorslund on bass are back in their posts after missing the previous reunion.

The reconfigured lineup and decade of recuperation seem to have made all the difference, because on here Artillery sound like a band decades younger, turning out an accessible and engaging style of thrash metal which feels a bit more straight-ahead than the experiments of By Inheritance but which hits the spot if you want something to put on rotation with classic-era Metallica and Slayer. Just listen to Sandbox Philosophy and see if it doesn't get your blood pumping. Over time I find it shrinks on me just as the more nuanced By Inheritance grows on me, but Artillery fans will not be disappointed with this.

UMUR "Penalty By Perception" is the 8th full-length studio album by Danish thrash metal act Artillery. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in March 2016. "Penalty By Perception" features the same lineup who recorded "Legions (2013)", making the album the second release to feature the performances of lead vocalist Michael Bastholm Dahl and drummer Josua Madsen. The rest of the lineup are Morten Stützer (guitars), Michael Stützer (guitars), and Peter Thorslund (bass).

Stylistically "Penalty By Perception" pretty much continues the thrash metal/US power metal style of "Legions (2013)". Artillery has always been labelled thrash metal, which to some extent is true enough, but they´ve always had lead vocalists who could actually sing, and who added enough melody to the predominantly thrash metal oriented instrumental part of the music, to make Artillery balance somewhere between technically well played thrash metal and US power metal. Exactly the same is the case here, where Artillery as always churn out one well played, memorable, and powerful riff after another, while lead vocalist Michael Bastholm Dahl adds a US power metal touch to the material.

Dahl is a skilled vocalist with a strong voice and a convincing delivery, but he doesn´t have a very distinct sounding voice. You can´t really fault him for the voice he was born with, and that´s not really my agenda here, but to my ears a more unique sounding vocalist could have lifted the music to a higher level. His best performance here is when he sings most melodic on the most quiet part of "When The Magic Is Gone". The instrumental part of the music is skillfully executed, and in addition to sharp thrashy riffing and well played guitar solos, the rhythm section play organic and tight.

Other than "When The Magic Is Gone" which brings a bit of variation to the 11 track, 53:40 minutes long album, the remaining tracks are pretty consistent in style and quality. The sound production is powerful, detailed, and clear too, so all in all "Penalty By Perception" is another strong album release by Artillery. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Warthur Danish thrash metal legends Artillery offer an album cover worthy of their name, and accompanying it an album of fantastically forceful thrash metal with some power metal influences worked in to keep things fresh. Hopefully this gets them the attention they've always deserved but never quite managed to get in the shade of more prominent thrash metal behemoths, though at the same time I find as time goes by it fades next to the classic By Inheritance; then again, the excellent production job done here means that these studio renditions get as good a chance as they can to win you over. It can be a bit cheesy here and there, that said - in particular, When the Magic Is Gone increasingly just doesn't work for me, and rather hurts the album's momentum as a result.

Unitron The power-thrash veterans Artillery are back with their eighth studio album, despite being around since the 80's. So how does it fare? Have they gone the way of quality over quantity or does it lack a certain spark? Continue reading to find out!

This is what I call Power-Thrash! Showing an equal flare for both catchy melodic hooks of power metal and thrashing blasts of sound, Penalty By Perception blends the two perfectly. The opening "In Defiance of Conformity" especially showcases this, with breakneck speed, a singing guitar solo, and an empowering chorus that has the resonance of a powerful cannon blast. Not to mention it's middle-eastern sounding intro, that harkens back to the intros of the classic By Inheritance and the more recent My Blood. "Sin of Innocence" also has a quite nice middle-eastern intro before inviting the listener for a mosh. The band goes beyond intros, with "The Path of the Atheist" which has powerful middle-eastern guitar crunching reminiscent of Melechesh.

This album is a jackpot for powerful choruses, "Live by the Scythe" and "Welcome to the Mindfactory" highlight this trait. Not that this is all catchy power-choruses, as the guitar riffs will go from thrashing the skin from your body to beating you over the head with a hammer (Or perhaps scythe in this case). The title cut does both at once, along with having one of the best sing-along choruses on the album. At the beginning the riffs are a bit slower, but waste no time giving the listener a brutal thrashing. Speaking of brutal thrashing, take a listen to "Deity Machine", and that is what you will certainly get plus a killer solo. The band will even throw in some well-placed groovy riffs, as heard in "Rites of War". The band also isn't afraid to slow it down, with the beautiful "When the Magic is Gone" which may as well be Artillery's "Fade to Black".

Michael Bastholm Dahl's vocal performance is that of a power metal vocalist, but fits perfectly with the music. His vocals have a similar vibe to Artillery's previous vocalist, as well as reminding me of Torben Askholm (Ex-Anubis Gate) at times. This is heard most in "Mercy of Ignorance", which certainly has a Askholm-era Anubis Gate-esque chorus. The production is awesome, perfectly complimenting the power-thrash sound. It creates the mood of being at a large outdoor arena surrounded by a great wall of sound.

Track after track, this is an absolute killer album. It's hard to pick any highlights, as each song will kick your ass and make you sing-along at the same time. If you love power and thrash, this is probably one of the best combinations out there. Artillery is a band that has seemed to gotten better with age, and this album further proves my conjecture.

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Time Signature One foot in the grave, the other in the thrash...

Genre: thrash metal

This video captures Artillery's concert in Spodek, Katowice, in Poland on March 8th in 2008, and that in itself is something I really appreciated. In 'ye olden days', the venue of a show that was released on video or DVD would have to be some big legendary arena like Wembley or a place like that. But this DVD show that metal is really a global phenomenon and that concerts at internationally relatively obscure place like Spodek, Katowice, in Poland can be just as intense and magnificent as those that are held in big arenas.

The concert itself is great, and the production is sufficiently unpolished, and it's great to see a bunch of middle-aged and greying and mostly balding guys (ignoring Nico, of course) going on stage and kicking ass in an all out thrash metal frontal attack. Fans will surely appreciat eclassics like "Deeds of Darkness", "By Inheritance", "Khomaniac" and "Terror Squad".

So, the concert is what it is: an intense frontal thrash metal attack, and a show I wish I could have attended, but the real treasure on this album, which is what makes me give it five stars, are the interviews with the Stützer brothers and original drummer "Carsten Nielsen" in which they go through interesting events in the history of the band, such as split-ups, working with Flemming Rasmussen, drinking with Slayer, getting kicked out of Russia, recording with Invocator's and The Haunted's Per M. Jensen, the creation of side project missing link, problems with Neat Records and Venom, and, of course, the inception of the band and their choice of band moniker.

I'd recommend this DVD to fans of the band, but also fans of thrash metal in general, because there are certain to enjoy all of this DVD.