Artillery - By Inheritance review
| Band: | Artillery |
| Album: | By Inheritance |
| Style: | Thrash metal |
| Release date: | May 1990 |
01. 7:00 From Tashkent
02. Khomaniac
03. Beneath The Clay (R.I.P)
04. By Inheritance
05. Bombfood
06. Don't Believe
07. Life In Bondage
08. Equal At First
09. Razamanaz [Nazareth cover]
10. Back In The Trash
2008 re-release bonus tracks:
11. Khomaniac
12. Don't Believe
13. Hey Woman [feat. Flemming Rônsdorff]
14. All For You [feat. Carsten Lohmann]
15. Blessed Are The Strong
16. Deserter
17. Day Of Doom
By Inheritance - the album that shook the Metal Storm world when it penetrated the top of the best albums list. Luckily, the Rust In Peace fanboi battalion was there to protect their prized jewel from the... well, pardon the pun, the heavy Artillery. With that scare in the past, this album has taken a stable place in the top 200 albums of all time (#154 at the time of this review).
But, is By Inheritance really a classic?
Well, it may not be an all-time opus in the world of golden-era thrash metal, but it is a very good and enjoyable album. "7:00 From Tashkent" begins our trip into this one; a quirky and somewhat unusual opener for a thrash album, that works pretty well. Things really get cooking in "Khomaniac" and upon hearing this song you'll probably start to realize why this album is so revered to many people. It has killer riffage, a frantic pace, and some exotic and flavourful melodies courtesy of a well-implemented use of the harmonic minor scale. The song rips along and leaves a great first impression. It has all the elements of great thrash.
The next few songs keep things going quite well, and we see some fairly technical guitar work and well executed riff delivery. "Bombfood" in particular is a nice war-themed tune with some great vocal delivery (the blame is ON YOOOOOOUUUUUUUUU!!!!). But the disappointing thing about this album is that it can't quite maintain the momentum it starts off with. By "Don't Believe" the assault is starting to taper, and by the time the "Razamanaz" cover has made its way through your ear canals, the album has lost the impact of its dynamic top end. That being said, other than the cover which was probably not a good song to pick, none of the songs are bad here and the writing is solid throughout.
The mixture of a weaker tail end and the fact that a lot of what is on this album has been seen and done before (plenty of war songs already out there in the world of thrash) puts it out of all-time-great territory for me. Despite that it is fun and has some truly remarkable riffs at its best moments, so any fan of thrash should enjoy Artillery's By Inheritance. I certainly found a lot to be enjoyed.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written by Mattybu | 27.07.2012
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Comments
Comments: 6
Visited by: 148 users
| Mattybu Posts: 2589  |
Written by Guest on 27.07.2012 at 10:37 No problem, glad you liked it 
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| Athropos Burning inside Posts: 158  |
To me it deserves a bit more than 8.1, but it's still a fair rating. I hope this review will get more people to know this album, it's really worth to.
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099  |
An interesting perspective but I disagree about it being imbalanced, "Razamanaz" is the exception I suppose but I enjoy all other tracks on just about an equal level. For me Thrash doesn't get any catchier than this. Some of the most brilliant riffs ever imagined.
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589 |
Written by R'Vannith on 27.07.2012 at 19:32 I can agree with that, I found Khomaniac and By Inheritance to have creative and impressive riffs. One of those albums that you'll know right away whether you like or not, IMO it hits you with its best song first. Just didn't find it amazing as a whole, but hey, still a very good album.
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| R'Vannith ghedengi Elite Posts: 3099 |
Written by Mattybu on 27.07.2012 at 19:47 Personally I think what you say there is truer of the first half definitely, the riffs there are the more immediately engaging I think and may dim the focus on the latter half. I remember being drawn to the first few tracks more easily than the others when I first listened to it. That didn't stick though and I really enjoy "Equal At First" and "Back In The Trash", guess that's not the same for everyone though.
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589 |
Written by R'Vannith on 27.07.2012 at 19:55 Back in the Trash was probably the best part of the second half, I agree with that being a standout. Honestly the Nazareth cover felt REALLY out of place, but the last song was a good to way to end it.
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