UMUR "Demonization" is the 4th full-length studio album by multi-national death metal/grindcore act Lock Up. The album was released through Listenable Records in march 2017. It´s the successor to "Necropolis Transparent" from 2011 and features one lineup change compared to the predecessor as lead vocalist Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates) has been replaced by Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth). The remaining members of the lineup are Shane Embury (bass), Nicholas Barker (drums), and Anton Reisenegger (guitars). All prolific musicians on the extreme part of the metal scene.

"Demonization" opens in great deathgrinding assault mode with "Blood and Emptiness", and pretty much continues down that road all the way through the 14 track, 41:54 minutes long album. It´s a highly energetic and fast-paced release featuring elements from both hardcore punk, grindcore, and death metal. The pace is lowered a couple of times during the album´s playing time, but it doesn´t happen that often, and when it does (like on the title track), it´s usually only for short periods of time before the deathgrind assault continues. Kevin Sharp is a suitable replacement for Tomas Lindberg, and his performance here is solid, although he doesn´t bring anything special to the vocal part of the album. His delivery is somewhere between death metal growling and a distorted shouting hardcore type vocal style. The instrumental part of the music is very well performed. Especially drummer Nicholas Barker stands out with his powerful and creative approach to extreme metal drumming.

"Demonization" is well produced, and features a sharp, clear, and powerful sounding production, which suits the music well. So upon conclusion "Demonization" is a quality release by Lock Up. The only minor issue is that not enough of the tracks on the 14 track, 41:54 minutes long album stand out, and few are easy to remember when the album ends, but it´s still a very enjoyable release while it plays, so a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Necropolis Transparent" is the 3rd full-length studio album by multi-national grindcore/death metal act Lock Up. The album was released through Nuclear Blast Records in July 2011. Lock Up is a project act originally formed in the late nineties by bassist Shane Embury and guitarist Jesse Pintado both, at the time, from Napalm Death, drummer Nicholas Barker (Cradle of Filth, Dimmu Borgir) and lead vocalist Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain, Bloodbath). This constellation recorded "Pleasures Pave Sewers (1999)". Peter Tägtgren was replaced by former At the Gates vocalist Tomas Lindberg for the band´s 2nd studio album "Hate Breeds Suffering (2002)" and "Necropolis Transparent" sees yet another lineup change as guitarist Anton Reisenegger (Criminal) replaces the late Jesse Pintado.

...what hasn´t changed one bit is the intensity and aggression of the band´s delivery. Full speed ahead grindcore with death metal elements. These guys are some of the most seasoned artists on the scene and it´s audible. Tight yet organic precision playing and a fiercely aggressive vocal delivery are what you´ll get with this album. The music does become sligthly one-dimensional and it´s actually not until track number 17 "Tartarus", which is the closing track, that the pace is lowered and the band deliver something else but high speed grindcore intensity. It doesn´t affect my overall rating much, but it would have been nice if the tracks were easier to tell apart.

With that said "Necropolis Transparent" is still a very well produced, well performed and well written grindcore album and definitely one of the top albums of the genre in 2011. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature Roar of a thousand guitars...

Genre: grindcore/deathgrind

This stuff is simply awesome. It is one of the best grind releases I have heard in a very long time.

There are plenty of blastbeats, of course, and loads of brutality on this album, but Lock Up successfully prevent the album from becoming monotonous - there is a general tendency, I think, for music which has many blastbeats to become monotonous to the extent that the blastbeats simply lose their brutality. But not here. Lock Up combine the blastbeating grind sections with energetic thrash metal and hardcore punk riffage with d-beats and thrash metal polka beats to boot. And there are also heavier passages and a couple of groovy elements too - hell, there are even some black metal-like riffs every now and then and some melodic things now and then.

Consequently, the music on this album is very energetic, and one cannot help but wanting to headbang like a madman and mosh about in the living room - it's that great. Thomas Lindberg's vocals sound more aggressive and angry than ever, and that suits Lock Up's brand of grindcore perfectly.

With an average length of around two and a half minutes, the songs are relatively short. This is a good thing, because, by keeping the songs short, Lock Up ensure that the music does not lose its energy, and the intensity is kept at a high level all the way through the album.

This is grindcore just the way I like it. It's aggressive. It's varied. It's energetic. The musicianship is high and the production is taken serious without being too polished. For my money, this is the deathgrind release of the year.