Dr. Living Dead! - Radioactive Intervention (2012)

During the 21st century there has been a new wave of thrash metal that has not only lifted the genre itself but has also made the old legends in the genre come back with incredible strength (Overkill, Testament, Anthrax with more). But these new bands is giving the old men a run for their money and one band that is in the top is the swedish quartet Dr. Living Dead!. They may be a little ridiculous since all of the members have fake alias (Dr. Rad, Dr. Ape, Dr. Toxic and Dr. Dawn) and that they perform wearing skull masks but the thrash music they are making is nothing to laugh at. Their self-titled debut album from last year was powerful and insane and showed that even Sweden has some skilled thrash metal musicians among their approximately 9 million citizens. But now the real test is here. Would this interesting project deliver an equaly strong follow up to last years success?

Now for those of you that are true thrash metal geeks you may be wondering what type of thrash metal does Dr. Living Dead! play? Well, it is a sort of dead thrash metal which means that the band plays short songs with a lot of room to riff, scream out the lyrics and, of course, to make an incredible and big mosh pit! Some great names in that category are Suicidal Tendencies and Municipal Waste. But does Dr. Living Dead! keep up with the big boys? Yes, I would definitely say that this band keeps the same standards as the giants in this type of music. One thing that makes the band stand out (besides the fact that they wear skull masks) is that the band has a little more groove on their sound. Especially on the songs "Signs From The Other Side" and "Suffering". Both songs reminds me of Anthrax for some reason which is a good thing since I love Anthrax. And another upside with this bands music is that it has some good variation, something many bands in this genre does not have.

Unfortunately, just like most of the albums in this genre it can be a little too much of the good stuff on "Radioactive Intervention" and the short, intense songs have a tendency to wear themselfs out pretty quickly. For instance, I was somewhat bored by the songs "They Live" and "You're Lost" already after a couple of listens. Fortunately, the band did not include a lot of those songs in "Radioactive Intervention". Otherwise I love the riffing and the speed the band is bringing. Just the intensity you would expect from a band like Dr. Living Dead!.

So yeah, Dr. Living Dead! delivers some great thrash but these guys are still relatively new in the game. "Radioactive Intervention" is a good album that deserves it recognition. But the whole picture is not there yet. With some experience and a little more maturity I think that we will see some big albums coming from these guys in the future. But for now this will do. And I do not complain.

Songs worthy of recognition: Signs From The Other Side, Dead New World, Suffering

Rating: 7/10 Mental Warzones