Rotengeist - "The Test That Divides Us All" (Defense Records, 2017)

Band: Rotengeist
Title: The Test That Divides Us All
Genre: Progressive Thrash metal with Death metal influences
Year: 24th April 2017
Time: 32 min circa
Rating: 89/100












I don't know how you think but a band like Rotengeist deserve a better international recognition. I am saying this because their third album, "The Test That Divides Us All", is very amazing since it shows many winning ideas and a lot of intensity. And it isn't a case considering that Rotengeist comes from Poland, a country able often to spew forth an high quality metal since the seminal debut album called "666" (1986) by the speed/thrash metal band Kat. But it seem to me that Rotengeist aren't so known internationally, also because, if I am not mistaken, I realized that their third album has been reviewed almost exclusively by Polish webzines while I think that Timpani allo Spiedo is the very first Italian webzine to review it. And I hope it will not be the only one!


The fact is that "The Test that Divides Us All", released by the Polish label Defense Records, is an album where there is a thrash metal that mixes a refined progressive approach with an impact and a malice truly devastating along with a remarkable dark atmosphere very close to Coroner. All this is played through 8 songs, each one more fantastic and imaginative than the other, and in some of them (especially since "Pray, Hate...Fight!") there are also a bunch of death metal influences, also because you will find even some blast-beats and few growls. Ergo, I think that Rotengeist can be considered quietly as a "progressive death/thrash metal band".

I have to mention many songs, since each one has its own strong personality. For example, here you are the indomable groove of "Moments of the Ecstasies" or the apocalyptic mid-tempo with desolating slowdowns of "Lunatics Fanatics" (where there are even pieces of political speeches also by Benito Mussolini!). But you have to listen to the disarming death/thrash metal ultra-violence of "New Direction" or the unstoppable metallized HC anthem "Gest Idoli", that, completely sung in Polish, is nothing but a cover of the historic Polish HC punk band Karcer. And I consider fantastic also "Pray, Hate...Fight!", where there is a breathtaking restart while the same "Moments of the Ecstaties" is a little strange because it starts from the slow and paranoid finale of the previous "Nightmare Within Nightmare", and I would like to know the sense of this particular musical choice.

To make more interesting the entire album, there are also some vocal guests appearances, not forgetting also the participation of an illustrious name from the Polish extreme metal scene. So, the guests are Piotr Bałajan from the heavy metal band Sacrifer (where every Rotengeist's member plays), Dominika Kobiałka (singer of the progressive metallers Tension), Marcin Dyvan Pytorok (an ex-singer of Rotengeist) and, last but not least, Marek Pająk aka Spider from Vader, which offered their hands for a guitar solo present in the opening track "Butcher's Bill"!

In brief, we are talking about an album and a band that I recommend to you without doubts. Because here there is everything: imagination, technical skills, intensity, furious aggression, apocalyptic atmospheres and melody in order to create an amazing mix between old and new, taking inspirations from bands like Coroner, Machine Head and Pantera with killer death metal touches. At this point, I hope truly that Rotengeist, that are preparing their Anti-Gods tour along with Moshmachine, will reach finally a good international recognition after three albums. They deserve it!

Thanks to Marcin of Mythrone Promotion to sending me this album!

Now, if you want, make a donation to Timpani allo Spiedo through the PayPal button at your right, above the cover artwork of my upcoming book. Thank you very much!

Tracklist:

1 - Butcher's Bill
2 - Nightmare Within Nightmares
3 - Moments of the Ecstasies
4 - Pray, Hate...Fight!
5 - Lunatics Fanatics
6 - New Direction
7 - Gest Idoli
8 - The Test That Divides Us All

Line-up:

Młody - vocals/guitars
Drizzt - bass
Ziemal - drums

Guests:

Piotr Bałajan - backing vocals ("Pray, Hate...Fight!")
Dominika Kobiałka - backing vocals ("Gest Idoli")
Marcin Dyvan Pytorok - backing vocals
Marek Pająk - guitar solo ("Butcher's Bill")

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YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ROTENGEIST
Defense Records: http://www.defensemerch.com/