Band:	Apothesary
Album:	A Harsh Reality
Style:	Melodic death metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	November 2011

01. Order 66
02. Acolyte
03. Passage Beyond Thought
04. The Unthinking Masses
05. American Rust
06. Trials
07. The General
08. To Autumn
09. A Harsh Reality
10. Fallen Heroes
11. Ashley
12. Wrath
13. Outro

It's easy to say "mnyeah, nothing sucks harder than so and so" or "nothing is more annoying than this or that", but I'm pretty damn certain that nothing is as trying as a thrash band that constantly comes close to being awesome, but always, before exploding, shies away from its potential and fizzles out. This is one of those cases. Its songs are kind of like those fireworks that were in your friend's garage for a year or two that you just found?the ones that, scrawled hastily in sharpie on their label, promise that faces will be melted if not lit prudently?fired up last night, did a quick cartoonified goose-step skip away to the sidewalk, covered your ears, looked with a dumb grin at, only to have them hiss, smoke, and? fucking nothing. They all promise a lot and will get you giddy before ultimately failing to detonate.

Almost everything about the musicianship on this is solid, though; the riffs are crunchy, the vocals are excellent (a bit Joel Grindish, too, so +5 for that), etc. The same just can't be said about the songwriting itself. Tracks will trundle along, they'll almost get really bitchin, then there'll be a toe-stub? or ten. They'll roll along, gather speed, then, nearly every time, trip up. Riffs will get stubborn and stick around for too long, solos will get awkward, and rather than having you leave face-prints on your walls, most of the tracks will make you grab your chin and say "ah... fuck; that's a shame" instead. A problem.

The potential on this is obvious, but Apothesary's skill just doesn't fully carry the album. They threw some of their cards into the inclusion of some death metalish inserts, but even those feel kinda half-baked. Overall, I guess this might come close enough to being good to warrant a thrash aficionado giving it a listen, but for everyone else, it'll be a bit more iffy.