Dr. Living Dead! - Crush The Sublime Gods (2015)

The undead doctors from Sweden are back once again to fill our minds with fast, crazy and humorous crossover thrash metal. Since the release of their latest album, the 2012 release "Radioactive Intervention", the band have had two changes in the line-up. Gone are Dr. Ape and Dr. Dawn and in are Dr. Mania and Dr. Slam, both trying to help and keep the momentum going for this young and talented band.

"Crush The Sublime Gods" is the band's third release and it is very much alike the band's two previous full length efforts. It is good, fast, heavy chugging thrash that also have some comedy in it, but the comedy is done with a twinkle in the eye, which means that the music comes first and the comedy lures in the background, always being done with a smile. The same goes in the live performances, in which the band performs with skull masks and with a big bucket full of passion and energy.

The big change for the band since the last album (besides the new line up) is that they got picked up by Century Media, which instantly means that the band can create a more professional and well produced record, which is very obvious if you compare "Crush The Sublime Gods" with both "Dr. Living Dead" and "Radioactive Intervention". The production is much cleaner, giving the music a much larger play room to really blossom and grow. That also goes for the band members, whom does a strong job behind their gear. Although I do think that the new singer Dr. Mania is almost a pure copy of Dr. Ape. If I did not know about the shift, I would have guessed that it was the same old singer that has always fronted the band.

The song material in "Crush The Sublime Gods" is definitely good, but I really miss that one song that can lift the album to unspeakable levels. Be sure though that there is a lot of good, meaty thrash metal in this album. Some of my favourites are the title track, "Civilized To Death", "Force Fed", "TEAMxDEADx", and even the two instrumental tracks "Salvation" and "Triggerkiller" surprises me in a good way. So there are a lot of good songs to chose from in this album.

It is hard to determine if "Crush The Sublime Gods" is the best album made by Dr. Living Dead! so far because the band keeps on chugging in the same rail way, but this time it is with a cleaner production. Ultimately, I do think that the band has created another stellar crossover thrash product that should go well down in the common mosh pit. The band has a lot of thrash in them and they really show it in this 13 song long piece. I still feel like the band has some bit to go to reach the absolute world class heights, but they are getting there. The gods are not yet crushed, but be sure of that the doctors will see you soon again for another physical exam.

Songs worthy of recognition: Civilized To Death, Crush The Sublime Gods, TEAMxDEADx, Salvation

Rating: 7,5/10 Buck$

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