Band: Allerjen

Title: No Guts, No Glory

Label: Psychophonic Records

Distribution: Bertus

Release date: April 2008

Review: CD

Allerjen hail from Manchester and bring the first release on the new label Psychophonic Records , also from the U.K. ( Stoke-on-Trent , to be more specific). The band was formed in 2002 and this debut album was in fact already ready to be unleashed two years ago, yet their label back then, well, problems and stuff, you know… Anyway, the trio did also perform a lot with big names such as Sepultura , Entombed , Evile and Raging Speedhorn . Enough of this band's history, now the ‘real' stuff: No Guts, No Glory . After several times of listening to it, I'm still impressed by this album and I don't really know why. Allerjen perform ultra-heavy, powerful, sludgy, overwhelming and intense Death Metal with several tempo-changes, yet the overall tempo varies from mid-tempo to pretty slow. The riffs are technical and colossal, the grunts sardonic and massive, and the rhythm section stands as a rebuilt Babylonian tower. All tracks are convincing, not one single moment the band disappoints. And what's more: they bring something new / renewing, again and again. Listen for example to those sublime elements in Scorch . Besides, the sound quality is wonderful: not that f*cking well-cleaned stuff from a big studio, yet full, massive and universal. Consider it a mixture of the best elements from bands as Mastodon , Sepultura , Arch Enemy , God Dethroned and High On Fire , yet with an own face, a pretty face! Or is it a scarred one?

91/100

Ivan Tibos .