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.

Time Signature Out of the thrash...

Genre: thrash metal

"B.A.C.K." is not considered a proper Artillery album by some, and the Stützer brothers themselves have also described it as more of a project thing. But if it walks like a bantha and smells like a bantha, it must be a bantha, and this sounds like Artillery and it's got three fifths of the band plus, hey, it's released under the Artillery monicker.

So for my money, it's an Artillery album.

Musically, we are dealing with typical Stützer-composed Artillery thrash with fast paces semi-technical riffage combined with groovy and more melodic parts. There are a lot of strong tracks on this album, such as "Cybermind", "WWW", "how Do You Feel", "Paparazzi", and the title track. The afore-mentioned groovy parts are more prevalent on this album than on any predecessors, but that is probably due to a general influence from groove metal which was prevalent in the 1990s. Given that the band still retains some groove nowadays, "B.A.C.K." is perhaps a bigger milestone in the history of the band than most people consider it to be.

This is the last Artillery album to feature Flemming Rønsdorf on vocals. I have always liked his unique and strange voice, and I think that he does a really good job of it here, too. It is in part his presence on the album that makes this a true Artillery classic in my eyes (well, ears, I guess).

This is an underrated released by an underrated band. Thrash metal fans should check it out. It is not as good as the legendary "By Inheritance" or their subsequent albums, but it is still very good.

Oh, and Invocator and The Haunted fans might take an interest in it too, as it features Per M. Jensen on drums.