UMUR "Punishment for Decadence" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swiss thrash metal act Coroner. The album was released through Noise Records in August 1988. Coroner was formed in 1985 and released their debut full-length studio album "R.I.P." in 1987. They are widely considered one of the seminal thrash metal acts on the Swiss thrash metal scene along with artists like Celtic Frost, Poltergeist, and Messiah. The three-piece lineup from the debut album is intact on "Punishment for Decadence". Tommy T. Baron (Tommy Vetterli) on guitar, Ron Royce (Ron Broder) on bass and vocals, and Marquis Marky (Markus Edelmann) on drums.

Stylistically the music on "Punishment for Decadence" continues the technically well played thrash metal style of "R.I.P. (1987)". Ron Royce delivers another snarling vocal performance, with his oddly "laid back" vocal style. Sometimes it almost sounds like he talks instead of sings. His vocal style suits the music perfectly though, and the above description is definitely not meant as a critique, just an attempt at describing a relatively unique sounding vocal style. The instrumental part of the music is also quite spectacular for the time. Royce bass playing is unfortunately lost in the mix, but Marquis Marky´s slightly fusion influenced drumming is a great asset, and even more so Tommy T. Baron´s guitar playing. His skills are considerable and in addition to his powerful riffs, his solos are incredibly well played.

The material on the 10 track, 38:54 minutes long album is also relatively well written. I say "relatively", because when the album has ended, it´s not all tracks I´m able to remember. "Masked Jackal", which the band also made a promotional video for, is one of the most catchy and memorable tracks on the album, but the instrumental "Arc-Lite" also stands out. Coroner´s cover of "Purple Haze" by Jimi Hendrix stands out too, but not in a particularly positive way. So it´s a bit up and down with the quality of the material. "Punishment for Decadence" is still overall a solid release though.

Featuring a sound production which is decent but still leaves a bit to be desired, my overall impression of "Punishment for Decadence" is a bit mixed. To my ears it´s not the giant step forward from "R.I.P. (1987)" one could have hoped for, but it´s not a step down either. I´d put it pretty much on par with the predecessor in regards to the overall quality of the release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved. The signs of greatness are here in abundance, but the final product just lacks that last thing to make it reach the excellent level.

Warthur A brief, aggressive outburst of thrash, Coroner's Punishment for Decadence takes a left-field turn at the end when the band wheel out a thrashed-up cover version of Purple Haze by the Jimi Hendrix Experience which succeeds in teasing out the proto-metal aspects of the song whilst remaining true both to the original tone of the song and the band's aggressive thrash stance. Ron Royce's vocals don't really match up to Jimi's original and are more suited to the muttered threats of the rest of the album, but otherwise it's a solid cover, though for the rest of the album the band seem to be treading water a little.

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