UMUR "Mental Vortex" is the 4th full-length studio album by Swiss thrash metal act Coroner. The album was released through Noise Records in August 1991. It´s the successor to "No More Color" from 1989. The three-piece lineup who recorded all three predecessors is intact: Tommy T. Baron (Tommy Vetterli) on guitar, Ron Royce (Ron Broder) on bass and vocals, and Marquis Marky (Markus Edelmann) on drums.

Stylistically "Mental Vortex" is quite different from "No More Color (1989)". The material on the 8 track, 47:30 minutes long album is still technical thrash metal, but the pace has generally been lowered and the tracks on "Mental Vortex" are predominantly mid-paced and heavy, and features fewer fast-paced sections than the case was on the predecessor. It´s audible that Coroner at this point in their career felt they needed to experiment and develop their style a bit more drastically than they had done between the first three releases (not that there wasn´t great development of sound between those releases too) and paired with the general change on the thrash metal scene in those years, "Mental Vortex" is very much an album of it´s time. Coroner have not "softened" their sound or have begun to incorporate alternative metal elements like some of their contemporaries did in those days, so it´s more a matter of songwriting approach and a refusal to be labelled "just" a thrash metal act. Their brilliant cover of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" by The Beatles is an example of that. There´s an occasional dark, almost dreamy psychadelic touch to some of the tracks, which is a new element too, but Coroner don´t go overboard with those ideas.

"Mental Vortex" features a detailed and powerful, but also pretty sterile, sound production, which has robbed Coroner´s music of the organic touch it possessed on the previous releases (I´m not surprised that the album is produced by Tom Morris). It´s still a professional and well sounding production job, but it´s just very different from the sound on the predecessors. The playing is as always on a very high level. Especially guitarist Tommy Vetterli delivers one killer riff after another, and his solo work is extraordinaire (and often neo-classical influenced). Sometimes the technical shifts in rhythm sound a bit forced and awkward, disrupting the flow of the tracks, but other times those sections work pretty well.

In addition to the above mentioned cover of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", highlights include "Son of Lilith" and "Semtex Revolution", but "Mental Vortex" is pretty consistent in both quality and style. So upon conclusion it´s another high quality release by Coroner. It doesn´t exactly reach the heights of "No More Color (1989)", which was always going to be a difficult task, but it´s still an interesting release in its own right. It shows development and reeks boldness, which are parameters I value greatly, so while this is not what I would call Coroner´s best release, I still think a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is fully deserved.

Kingcrimsonprog Swiss Thrash Metal band Coroner are purveyors of top quality technical Thrash Metal; with proggy, jazzy, avante guard tinges, but without going off the deep end and loosing the ability to crush you with pummelling riffs and catchy beats. I’ve heard them called ‘’The Rush of Thrash Metal’’ and while they don’t actually sound anything like Canada’s greatest trio, there’s an elasticity and eclecticism here that makes me understand the comparison.

This 1991 album; their fourth and penultimate studio effort, usually seems to be tied with the previous album 1989’s No More Color for fan’s and critic’s favourite and the one recommended to newcomers. Mental Vortex sets itself apart from the band’s ‘80s output by featuring an increase in groove… but without doing the ‘90s Thrash band mistake of going too slow and too groovy and loosing the real power and energy that fans loved in the first place.

This album features some of these former Celtic Frost roadie’s most popular tracks, and it is the kind of thing you’ll always find in lists of best Thrash albums. Songs here are typically varied, complex, impressive and also somehow feature catchy and memorable sections instead of just disappearing up its own backside. There’s so much to hold onto, so much to get stuck in your head. Headbangable riffs, rhythmic vocal patterns, intriguing instrumental sections. Remember when Dark Angel made an album with 246 riffs but somehow even with all that technicality, the actual songs weren’t always all that memorable? This is the opposite.

I do usually prefer my Thrash with cleaner vocals (Anthrax, Forbidden, Overkill, Annihilator) rather than the raspier harsher style Ron Royce uses here, and if you aren’t into bands like Sodom and Destruction this may seem a bit difficult on the ears, but its got a nice clean production and superb musicianship, and some creative and unique song writing, which should more than capture your attention.

What happens when you cross ‘YYZ’ by Rush, ‘Tribal Convictions’ by Voivod, ‘Into The Lungs Of Hell’ by Megadeth and ‘Domination’ by Pantera? The real answer is ‘’probably a mess!’’ Luckily however, Corner have made something better than a mess here. Something a lot, lot, lot better than a mess. (Misguided Beatles cover aside, but then most Thrash bands have at least one questionable cover song). That sentence was just my enduring memory of my first impression of this record. I may have been late to the party, but I’d go as far as to say discovering this was the best time I’ve had discovering a new Thrash band since my first 5 years of being a metal fan.

Warthur Coming down off their masterpiece (No More Color), Coroner's Mental Vortex feels to me like a bit of a step down. The band's chops are still tight, but there's points where their technical thrash metal style seems tired and worn out. In particular, the closing cover of the Beatles' I Want You (She's So Heavy) is drab and unimaginative, in stark contrast to previous covers of 1960s psychedelic classics by the band. Still, it's a competent enough album which offers an entertaining listen, but it isn't the world-changing experience No More Color was and suggests that the band's time was running short at this point.