The Angry Scotsman
Unheralded Thrash Classic
Coroner may not be a very big name band, and that's a shame because this is album is something else! Crammed with lightning fast technical riffing, double bass thrash drumming, blazing solos, and unorthodox song structures that change on the flip of the switch. The best way to describe it all is frantic. This is organized chaos. There are some traces of progressive elements, (such as clean guitar, synth and overall progressive song structures), not all the solos are face melters, and even some neo classical moments thrown in! This is a progressive technical thrash album that twists and turns constantly and will blow you away musically.
Musicianship, (as in both technical skill and songwriting ability) is present that blows Celtic Frost, (their source) out of the water...and many other thrash albums to boot! Some truly amazing guitar work, drumming that can be utterly manic to melodic, tasteful bass guitar and gruff vocals. My only real knock is the production, which is not very good, and the vocals in particularly are quite buried. Though this is 80's thrash metal, some low fi never hurt anyone!
Just to make sure things aren't too serious, (or an honest tribute I don't know) the album ends with a thrash cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" which is actually pretty cool and gives a good chuckle. OK, the vocals may make you cringe a bit, but its a cool cover and I'm always glad to see a metal band do something a little atypical.
Brilliant album
Four and a Half Stars