Band:	Ketzer
Album:	Endzeit Metropolis
Style:	Black metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	February 01, 2012
A review by:	Troy Killjoy

01. Endzeit Metropolis
02. A Requiem For Beauty
03. The Fever's Tide
04. Aesthetics And Ecstasy
05. Farewell, Fade Away
06. Collector Of Worlds
07. Redeemed By Truth
08. He, Who Stands Behind The Rows

German blackened thrashers Ketzer exploded onto the scene with their full-length debut, Satan's Boundaries Unchained. While Endzeit Metropolis certainly has its fair share of amazing moments, unfortunately it would seem as though the devil managed to grow to its full height and now we're faced with something far more restrictive.

Restrictive, but still fun. I mean, it's not like they were experimenting before to the point of being tagged an avant-garde project, but this time around one gets the impression that ideas weren't exactly littering the drawing board. When you kickstart your career with an album rampant with old school-inspired aggression and catchy riffs, people expect at least some semblance of that on your follow-up release. This time around the bite isn't as potent, as the instrumentation seems much more "boxed in", or "caged".

These guys can still rip it up, and they haven't lost the ability to write music and play their instruments. Infernal Destroyer proves once again his work behind the mic is more than just adequate for a band of this style, even though he too seems to lack the same bite as before. They change the pace from "faster than fast" to "just fast" from time to time, and then for the hell of it they drop the rage altogether and play at a doom metal pace for a minute or two. This works for bands that mix different speeds properly, but Endzeit Metropolis doesn't seem to display that high a level of musicianship. Deströyer 666 anyone?

Essentially what you're in for is some basic blackened thrash with a few changes of pace - a not-too-aggressive aural assault, kind of like being chewed on by a puppy as opposed to having your face ripped off by Jon Snow's direwolf, Ghost. The black metal elements, although few, prevent this album from becoming completely stale, as the thrash metal foundation just isn't strong enough to keep the attention of the average extreme metal fan. Expect a decent piece of fierce and fiery metal, but not much ferocity beyond the idea of drunkenly smashing a few car windows at night before being locked away in the drunk tank to sleep away the memory of this, to wake up remembering a better-in-every-aspect debut.